


No Longer Fiction: Book One

by ldsbibliophile



Series: No Longer Fiction [1]
Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: DeviantART fic, F/M, KicsterAsh, The Seer - Freeform, based on another fic, trapped in a book
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:47:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29829300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ldsbibliophile/pseuds/ldsbibliophile
Summary: Annie is walking home from school when she finds herself in the world of Phineas and Ferb. How will she get home?
Relationships: Phineas Flynn/Isabella Garcia-Shapiro
Series: No Longer Fiction [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2192862
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

Leaves crunched softly beneath their feet as they made their way up the wooded hill. Annie ran her hand along the trunk of a tree as she passed, feeling the roughness against her fingers. She smiled and breathed deeply, taking in the thick forest air. She wrapped her scarf more tightly against the cool breeze as she continued her walk. Not far ahead of her, David stared up through the branches as he made his way between the trees. She could see his breath coming out in puffs.

Finally they came to the small clearing. It was green and peaceful, shadows starting to fall around it in the dusk. Annie sighed softly, glad to be back in their little spot of the woods. It almost felt like home.

They walked to the middle of the grassy area and laid down. Looking up at the clouds, tinged pink in the sunset beyond the trees, they waited quietly.

The sky and the shadows grew darker and darker, though never less peaceful, and after about half an hour or so, they finally saw what they had been waiting for.

The first star of the night.

Annie smiled.

_Star light, star bright_

_First star I see tonight_

Her cheeks grew warm as the childish rhyme ran through her head, but she continued the tradition, just as she knew David was doing beside her.

_I wish I may, I wish I might_

_Have the wish I wish tonight_

She closed her eyes, lashes brushing her flushed cheeks, and she made her wish.

Then, slowly she opened her eyes again to watch the little ray of light, hoping that, this time, it had listened.


	2. Chapter 1

“Miss Edwards! If you could please pay attention!”

Annie jumped in her seat and looked up to the front of the room. There, Mrs. Lewis stood with her hands on her hips. Annie blushed as she closed her book. “Sorry.”

Mrs. Lewis rolled her eyes as she turned back to the board. She wasn’t really very strict, though her stereotypical thin figure, pencil skirt, and tight bun gave the impression she would be. But five minutes was enough time to find a good place to stop reading. Annie busily copied down the notes that were already up and tried not to think of the story sitting in her lap.

_ Just a little longer _ , she tried to convince herself.  _ Just half an hour and you can read while you walk home. _

Even then, it was hard to pay attention to biology with  _ The Seer _ staring up at her. After all of the other fanfictions Ashley had written, Annie couldn’t wait to get into this one.

Half an hour felt like a week before the bell finally rang. Annie stuffed her notebook and papers into her bag and rushed out the door.

*****

_ “Ferb, I know what we’re going to do today!” _

_ The five teenagers spent the next few hours running around Danville building the Iceslide, Phineas excitedly directing and describing every twist and turn, Ferb busily making the vision a reality, and Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet energetically helping both of them. _

Annie’s steps slowed as she became more and more engrossed in her book. Around her, the trees and the chilly wind seemed to fade away and the images in her head took their place.

_ “Lady and gentlemen, I present to you… The Iceslide!” _

_ Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford grinned excitedly. They each took a turn stepping into the slide, cheers and laughs echoing up the tunnel of ice. _

_ “Well, Ferb, I think we can cross this project off—Wait, what? Ferb, did you just see that?” _

Annie heard the voices more and more clearly the further she read.

_ “Excuse me—Miss! Miss, watch out!” _

Suddenly, her foot slipped from beneath her. She gasped as she fell, but then her gasp turned into a scream as she didn’t stop falling.

She saw mostly white above and beneath her as she slid down a cold, hard surface. She seemed to be in a tunnel, but light filtered through and she could see dark blurs flying by here and there under her.

_ Iceslide _ .

But—how? That couldn’t be possible. Could it?

But in the shock of the moment, she couldn’t think it through. All she knew is that whatever this was was actually kind of fun, and her screams of fear turned to screams of enjoyment as she went around the curves, and she laughed as she continued her journey down the tunnel. She gasped again when she went in a complete loop, going upside down for a moment.

The end of the tunnel seemed to come up too fast. She shot out into the bright, wintry air and landed in a thick pile of snow, where she laid and simply laughed for a moment until a voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Hi, um, excuse me, but… who are you?”

Annie opened her eyes to see a girl bending down in front of her, her black hair flowing over one shoulder. Behind her stood two boys, one well built and brown-haired, the other tall and thin, with curly dark hair and darker skin. Both shared the same confused look as the girl.

Annie gaped a little in surprise. Just as she collected herself and was about to answer, she was interrupted by some cheers echoing out of the tunnel behind her. She looked back at the sound, and started to push herself up and out of the way. The girl helped her up, and they stood back just as someone shot out of the tunnel, closely followed by another person. They landed in a heap, the first laughing as he pushed the other off of him.

The boy who came out last was tall and had green hair, and he grinned silently as he pulled the other boy up after him. This boy was shorter and had red hair, and his blue eyes shone with excitement as he continued to laugh. “That was awesome!”

His happiness was contagious, and the four other teenagers grinned.

“I think we can mark this one down as a success.”

Then his eyes fell on Annie. His eyebrows went up in surprise, but his grin never faded as he crossed the snowdrift to shake her hand. “Hi! I’m Phineas, and this is Ferb, Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford.” He pointed to each as he spoke their name, gesturing first to the boy with green hair, then to the girl, and then to the Indian boy and the brown-haired boy.

Phineas turned back to her. “Are you okay? We tried to stop you before you slipped into the slide, but you were  _ really _ into that book.”

She just stared in shock, unable to say anything.  _ Phineas? Ferb? Am I… But…  _ She ran a hand through her hair as she tried to figure out what had happened. She looked from person to person in confusion, and each set of eyes looked back in curious concern.

“I... I-I...” Her eyes fell on her book, which had landed in the snow when she had come out of the slide.

Following her gaze, the others looked at the book. Ferb, who stood closest to it, picked it up and brushed snow off of it. He passed it to Phineas to give to Annie. As he did so, the redhead glanced at the cover. “ _ The Seer _ . Good book?”

She gave a small, hesitant nod as she took it.

“Cool. Maybe I’ll read it someday.”

Her eyes widened a little as she stared first at him, then at the book. If only he knew…

Ferb cleared his throat. “Umm, Phineas…”

The teenagers all looked at the green-haired boy. He was looking at a piece of paper, concern written clearly on his face. Annie’s eyes widened even more and she gave a little gasp as she recognized the paper as having fallen out of her book.

“What’s the matter, Ferb?”

Ferb didn’t say anything, but he passed the paper to Phineas. The redhead looked at the picture, and his eyes grew concerned and confused as well. His smile faded, and he looked at Annie questioningly.

Her face grew hot. How was she ever going to explain this?

Phineas cleared his throat and held the picture out for her to take. “Umm… I’m sorry, but… who are you? And why does this drawing look so much like Ferb?”

Annie hesitantly took the picture as Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet’s eyes widened. Annie’s face grew hotter and hotter as she struggled to speak.

“I… I’m…” She took a deep breath. “My name’s Annabelle… or Annie, usually… I’m… I’m not from here… I’m.....” She looked around her, rubbing her arm. “I… I don’t know how to explain this…” She looked back at her book. “Where I’m from… wherever that is… you… you don’t… exist… You’re all… you’re all fictional… TV characters… and… this book… is a… fanfiction… of you guys… and the picture’s from the fanfiction, too… But, I was reading it.. and I just…” She looked up at Phineas. “I showed up here…”

She down at her feet, face burning, unable to say any more.

“So there’s a book about us?” Phineas asked curiously.

Annie nodded, still looking down at her feet.

“And there’s a TV show about us?”

Again she nodded.

Phineas turned to face Ferb. “Dude, we’re famous!” he laughed.

Annie looked up in surprise as Ferb rolled his eyes and smiled. “And all this time, I’ve loved books so much and never realized I was in one myself.”

Phineas turned back to Annie as she continued to stare at him. “So now you’re meeting people that have only existed in a book and on TV. What do you think?”

Annie smiled slightly. “It’s… pretty exciting… and the Iceslide is pretty awesome.”

Phineas’ smile broadened. “Well, now I know we can cross it off as a success. If someone who just shockingly found herself in front of a bunch of fictional characters loved it, it’s got to be good. Well, anyway, I’m glad to meet you, Annie, and I’m pleased that you enjoyed the Iceslide. Although, it is starting to get a bit cold. Who wants hot chocolate?” He turned to the other teenagers. They cheered and started to walk toward the Flynn-Fletchers’ house. Annie smiled gratefully and walked silently behind them. Ferb patted her encouragingly on the shoulder as he passed, and Phineas looked at her and smiled again before turning to his brother and excitedly started explaining new ideas for how they could make the Iceslide even more thrilling.

*****

“Oh, there you are, Perry.”

Annie followed Phineas’ gaze to see the teal platypus walking into the kitchen. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the secret agent, though she remained quiet and kept her hands on the warm mug in front of her. The hot chocolate had done wonders for her nerves and she had started to accept that she actually was here, in the Flynn-Fletcher’s home, sitting with Phineas and Ferb and Isabella and Buford and Baljeet.

She was having a hard time containing her excitement.

Though she was much more collected now, it seemed that the other teenagers could tell she wasn’t up to questions yet, and she sat and listened to their excited conversation.

After another half hour or so, Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet started for home. It was decided that Annie would stay with Isabella in the Garcia-Shapiro’s spare room.

As she followed the black-haired teenager across the street, Annie looked back at the Flynn-Fletcher’s home. She smiled as she saw that the Iceslide that they had ridden on only an hour ago was already gone.


	3. Chapter 2

The next morning, Annie woke up to something small and fuzzy breathing on her face. When she opened her eyes to find two large, blue eyes right in front of her, she gave a small yelp and nearly fell off the bed.

The shaking dog jumped back, and she sat up. Having realized who it was, she took a calming breath and rubbed her eyes. “Hi, Pinky.”

Then, she stopped, hands still on her face.

_Pinky? Pinky the Chihuahua?_

She lowered her hands and looked at the dog, now sitting in her lap. She looked around the room, bright light reflecting off the snow outside to illuminate the soft yellow walls and the dark violet bedspread. Next to the lamp on the dresser she saw a picture of Isabella and her parents.

Annie ran her hand through her hair as she remembered the events of the night before.

She was still here.  
And she had no idea how to change that.

A small knock on the partially opened door interrupted her thoughts.

“Hello? Are you okay in there?” The door opened a little wider and Isabella’s head poked in. “I heard you make a noise. Oh, Pinky!” She noticed the dog on Annie’s lap. She came in and picked up the chihuahua. “Are you scaring our guest?”

Annie laughed a little as she pulled the covers off. “No, Pinky’s fine. Just startled me a little.” She petted the dog. “Thanks for letting me stay over,” she addressed Isabella. “It was very kind of you, on such.. short notice.”

“No problem,” Isabella said lightly. “Do you want some breakfast? My mom’s fixing toast, and we have some fruit and yogurt, if you’d like.”

“That sounds great. Thank you.”

*****

After breakfast, Isabella and Annie went to Phineas and Ferb’s house, and Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher drove the four of them to school, wanting to get there early so they could talk to Mr. Beauregard, Phineas’ mentor and the school principal. As they drove, Phineas jokingly lamented that he missed having the opportunity to beat Ferb onto the bus, and Ferb replied with a sly grin that Phineas wouldn’t have beat him anyway. Isabella giggled and told Annie about their usual competition, laughing as she described how they had once entered the bus splattered with mud after slipping on the lawn during their race to the curb.

They were so early that as they pulled up to the school, they saw Mr. Beauregard’s car drive into his usual parking spot. Phineas called out a hello and introduced Annie as the group walked together to Mr. Beauregard’s office.

Half an hour later, it had been settled that Annie would follow Isabella’s schedule, acting as an exchange student until she was able to go home. Annie wasn’t able to explain much more about what had happened than she had expressed the night before, but, like Phineas, Mr. Beauregard seemed to understand and didn’t press the point. Annie was grateful that the principal seemed to be used to the way weird things would happen around the Flynn-Fletcher boys.

The principal ushered the group out the office door just as the warning bell rang. As they walked away, Annie looked back and said a quiet “Thank you”. Mr. Beauregard nodded and turned back into his office to work, and Annie followed Isabella to first period.

*****

That day, after school, Isabella and Annie went to the Garcia-Shapiro’s home to do their homework, and then Isabella helped Annie make a character on _The Seer_ , a video game that she played with Phineas, Ferb, Buford, and Baljeet. Isabella had a couple extra controllers, so she and Annie went online and waited for the others to join them.

Annie noticed that when she chose to be a Mage in the game, Isabella seemed to stiffen a little, though she tried to hide it. Unsure what to do, Annie sat and bit her lip for a moment. Fortunately, Buford and Baljeet logged in within the next minute and started up a conversation. Isabella relaxed a little, although she still didn’t look at Annie. But when Phineas and Ferb joined in a few minutes later, Annie gasped in revelation and looked at Isabella. She pulled the borrowed headset away from her mouth. “Oh my gosh, Isabella, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was stealing a character from anyone… I didn’t even think—”

“No. No, I’m sorry, you couldn’t have known.” Isabella interrupted, also pulling the headset away from her face. “I was unfair. It’s just…” She looked at the screen.

“You like Phineas.”

Isabella looked at her in shock.

Annie had made sure her headset was completely off her head before she whispered this statement. Now she looked at Isabella apologetically. “It’s in the TV show, and the fanfictions. I should have thought to make sure I didn’t steal anyone’s character, but now that I think back, I should have thought especially not to steal his. Sorry.”

Isabella continued to stare at her, not sure how to take the information. Annie blushed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything,” she mumbled as she looked away again.

Isabella shook her head. “No. No, you’re fine.” She smiled. “I should have guessed that if everyone but Phineas knew that here, then everyone should know it in your dimension too.” She sighed dramatically. “Why, oh why, did I have to have a crush on the most clueless boy in the world?”

Annie giggled, and Isabella smiled.

Then, dimly, they heard their names coming from the headphones in their laps.

“Izzie? Annie? Are you there?”

The girls quickly put their headphones back on and rejoined the game.

*****

“I’m just surprised that you weren’t tending to a bloody nose when we logged on. She would have punched anyone else who chose to be a Mage.”

Annie gave a small, embarrassed smile while Isabella fumed. “Buford! Just... just pay attention to the game! This fight isn’t over, you know!”

Buford laughed on the other end, then shouted in surprise. “Woah! Didn’t see that one coming. Baljeet! Big group over here—you take the left flank and I’ll take the right!”

“What do I look like, Buford, a soldier?”

“Just pull out your magic rope and do something, Baljeet! Your guy’s just standing there! He’s gonna get powned!”

The teenagers fought vigorously with their swords, axes, ropes, and staffs.

“Isabella, keep an eye on our Stone; we can’t let that get into the wrong hands,” Phineas ordered over the headset.

“Gah! I have got a Snitch on my tail!” Baljeet exclaimed. “Phineas, I need a healing spell right now! My health is down to 23%!”

Phineas’ Mage ran toward Baljeet’s Rope Maker. “Hang on, I’m coming.”

Annie was very much enjoying herself. The game was intense and exciting, and she was learning quickly all the different spells she could cast. Within only this hour, she had already leveled up multiple times.

She defeated a Snitch, earning more experience. Lights glowed around her character, and she leveled up again.

Phineas noticed. “Wow, Ferb, she’s almost as good as you.”

“Let’s just see how she does in the Burning Inferno.”

“Woah, hey, I can sense some teasing on its way there. Let’s _not_ open this up now, please.”

Ferb chuckled.

Then, for a few moments, all Annie could hear was the sounds from the video game and a few occasional exclamations from the other gamers.

“Aaaahhh, I can’t get past the dang blockade those Warlocks put up!” Phineas groaned a few minutes later. “Where’s that dumb intangibility cloak when you need it?”

“Why don’t you just cheat?” Buford suggested.

“Buford, I don’t cheat at games. I win fair and square.”

“Goody two-shoes.”

All were quiet again for a couple seconds before Phineas sighed. “Ferb, you still have that blockade disintegrator on you?”

Though Ferb didn’t say anything, Annie guessed he had nodded positively, because Phineas then asked, “Mind if I trade it with you?”

“Be my guest.”

Suddenly, Isabella gasped. “Phineas! Phineas, I lost sight of the Seer!” she exclaimed. “He just ran off!”

“Fall back, Gang!” Phineas ordered urgently. “We need to find the Seer before going on! Move, move, move!”

“We heard you the first time, sheesh!” Buford groaned as they all regrouped on screen.

“Lemme pull a tracking spell and find him before the Dark Sorcerer does,” Phineas muttered. Sparkles of coloured light swirled around Phineas’ character. Annie looked on with slight awe; she couldn’t wait to learn that spell.

“Oooh, I love it when you do that spell,” Baljeet said. “It looks so cool!”

“Found him!” Phineas announced after a moment. “Hm. That’s weird; the readings I’m getting are telling me he’s right nearby. Does anyone see him?”  
“Is that him digging through that chest over there?” Isabella pointed out.

“What the heck’s up with this Seer?” Buford scoffed. “He’s like a five-year-old! The last one was better than this one! Why did the creators have to give so many different kinds of Seers for Mortimer to choose from? We’re gonna lose because of him!”

“Let’s just get him back and find a way safely around that battalion,” Phineas sighed. “Jeet, which way is the safest? What does your map say?”

“Ummmm, lemme check,” Baljeet replied. There was a moment of silence before a map popped up on the screen. “If we go towards the Frost Range, the mountains in the North, there are definitely more caves to hide in, but it takes the Seer too close to the Burning Inferno Level and the Fire Sprites. We could go south, but then that takes us too far from Cantoria’s Mega Labyrinth and its Center.”

“We’ll chance the mountains, then,” Phineas decided as Baljeet put away his map.

“But Phineas, what about Burning Inferno?” Isabella pointed out. “The Dark Sorcerer has a base near there.”

“We’re going to have to eventually beat that level, too, Izzie. So let’s just go with it. Besides, Ferb has beaten it before; he knows all the shortcuts on that level.”

“What about you?”  
Ferb snickered. “If Phineas had unlocked the ability to keep his balance, then perhaps he would have beaten it without my aid,” he teased.

“Hey, lay off!” Phineas exclaimed with a laugh. “I’m not a world winner at video games, Dude! Those stepping stones were tricky!” His Mage turned and began running towards the mountains. “Okay, Gang, let’s start heading there before the sun sets. And make sure the Seer hides his Stone this time. We could get caught again.”

“I have to agree with Buford,” Isabella said as they all began running and only attacking what got in their way. “The Sage’s choice of Seer really reeks this time round.”

"Yeah, why aren't you the Seer, Dinner Bell? You'd be much better than this doofus."

“And think of all the unknown, mystical powers you could use because of your rarity and that Seer Stone!” Baljeet added. “Seers are incredibly rare, which is why they’re so precious. Why not be the Seer, Phineas? You fit the description perfectly, never mind you’re already so knowledgeable about this game.”

“His height corresponds to it, too,” Buford teased. “Seers are always short.”

“Hey!” Phineas exclaimed. “They are not! And if you guys have forgotten, we agreed to be what the quiz said at the beginning of the game. Besides, I like being the Mage.”

“But Seers have magical powers, too,” Isabella pointed out.

“Not really. Mages can perform spells, Izzie. Seers can’t. Only offense and defense attacks through the aid of the Stone. I believe magic—or, in this case, spellbinding—is essential to several levels in the game. Don’t you guys believe magic is important?”

Annie heard several indecisive murmurs from the other teenagers, though she said nothing. In fact, since Buford had started talking about Phineas being the Seer, she had been rather quiet and thoughtful. Her hands slowly settled into her lap, and Isabella gave her a curious look as Phineas’ voice came through the headsets again.

“How about you, Ferb? You believe in it, right?”

“Well, perhaps theoretically, yes. But… not literally. I mean, there’s always an explanation for everything, Phineas.”

Phineas groaned softly. “So, I guess I’m the only one, then?”

After a few seconds of silence, the teenagers heard a quiet voice through their headsets.

“No.”

Isabella looked at Annie in surprise. She was looking down at her hands, obviously worried and thinking about something, but it had clearly been her who had spoken. “Annie, are you okay?”

Annie ran a hand through her hair and, after a second, cleared her throat. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s… let’s just get back to the game. Please.”

There were a few more seconds of silence before Ferb cleared his throat. “It looks like we’re almost to the caves, guys. Everyone keep an eye out for ambushes.”

The teenagers started playing again, and soon conversation and excited chatter built back up. Annie relaxed and started enjoying herself again.

An hour later, they were almost past the Burning Inferno, and Annie had leveled up several more times. As the group crossed a lake of magma, she proved her worth as she jumped from stone to stone without falling.

“Looks like you really may have met your match, Ferb,” Phineas said, with both teasing and some awe in his voice.

“I may have,” Ferb agreed.

Annie blushed and grinned widely.

“I say we find out who’s really the better gamer,” Buford suggested. “I’d like to see that battle.”

“If we do that, it could take hours,” Phineas pointed out. “They’re both so good at battling now. Anyway, we might end up wasting some of our resources. We can’t find those special herbs just anywhere, you know.”

Buford grunted disappointedly. “I didn’t say it had to be on _this_ game.”

Phineas laughed. “I’ll see what we can do for you, Buford.”

“There is another Seer attribute,” Baljeet piped in. “Guidance in the right direction.”

“Oh, gimme a break, we’re bringing this up _again_?”

“But Phineas, it’s true,” Isabella broke in. “The Seer is always the most humble, gentle-hearted, innocent, and adorable person—”

“Adorable???” Phineas interrupted in confusion. “What does adorable have to do with it?”

Ferb, Baljeet, and Buford were already choking on laughs—they had noticed the little hint Isabella had set down, but were completely blown away by the fact that Phineas was still oblivious. “I didn’t mean that,” Isabella muttered. “What I meant to say was wise. The Seer also has to be wise in order to lead the group when needed. The Seer’s the only one who knows the exact paths to the Center of the Labyrinth, Phineas. It’s got powers that are beyond what any Mage has; it can see things others can’t normally see, and even feel things others can’t normally feel.”

“But I’m not like all of that,” Phineas replied.

“I think what she meant, Phineas, was that many of those attributes can be found in you,” Ferb explained. “Not necessarily all of them, just most.”

“Come off it, I’m not that special, guys,” Phineas sighed. “I like being a Mage, that’s all. I don’t want to take on such a serious role as the Seer. He’s the guy who’s wanted by the good guys and the bad guys. Besides, who would want to play as a player who needs to sacrifice himself at the end of the game anyway?”

Annie gave a soft gasp, but no one seemed to notice.

“He does raise a good point,” Baljeet pointed out.

“I thought you liked being a hero,” Buford said. “You know… The Beak???”

“Oh, please, I was ten years old,” Phineas groaned. “Besides, I was only the hero because of a fluke—”

Ferb cleared his throat loudly.

“Uh, I mean we were the hero,” Phineas corrected. “I still feel bad about totally ignoring you, Bud.”

“I’m sure,” Ferb replied, though Annie could hear the smile on his lips.

“Okay, so being the hero has its perks,” Phineas resumed. “But who would want to be a hero in a video game who ends up dying anyway? Either you get taken by the Warlocks and Dark Sorcerer, shot at by their Deception Sceptres, and turned into a weapon of mass destruction, OR you reach the Center, connect yourself to the Labyrinth’s life force, go through the Transfiguration, and sacrifice yourself to save all of the innocent people, including your team.”

“Heroes make sacrifices,” Ferb pointed out.

Phineas groaned and started to say something, but was interrupted by a voice hardly louder than a whisper.

“Can we just stop talking about this? Please?”

Isabella looked at Annie again to find that the brown-haired girl was slightly pale and her hands, which were once again in her lap, were shaking.

“Annie?”

Annie just continued to stare at her hands, eyebrows knit in a worried expression.

“Umm, Phineas?”

“Everyone, there’s a haven just around the corner. Let’s meet there and save the game. I think we all need a break.”

*****

As Isabella saved the game, Annie put down the controller and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

“You okay, Annie?” Isabella turned to her.

“Y-yeah, just… It’s probably nothing. I’m sorry I ruined the game.”

“You didn’t ruin it. It was time for a break anyway,” Isabella reassured her. Annie gave her a small smile, then raised a hand to rub the worry out of her face.

Isabella’s phone dinged, and she opened the text on it.

“Phineas and Ferb are inviting us over for hot cocoa. You want some?”

Annie smiled. “Heck yeah, I do.”

Five minutes later the girls were sitting at the Flynn-Fletchers’ table with Phineas and Ferb, all with warm, steaming mugs in their hands. No one spoke; all simply allowed the comfortable silence and the creamy chocolate to work their magic. And, as before, Annie found that the hot chocolate helped immensely.

Eventually, it was Annie who broke the silence. “Thanks for the hot chocolate… And sorry for… you know…” She looked down at her mug.

The three teenagers smiled compassionately. “No problem,” Phineas replied.

Annie smiled weakly for a moment, still looking at her hot chocolate. Then, her smile faded and she sat pensively in the quiet.

After another few minutes, it was Ferb’s turn to break the silence. “So.. are you okay?”

She looked up at him, smiled, and nodded. “Much better. Thank you.”

“Would it help if you talked about it?”

Her smile faded again. “That’s where I’m not sure.” She sighed and looked back down. “I’m not sure if it would help, I’m not sure if I’m even allowed…” She frowned. “I’m not even sure if my reaction was warranted or if I overreacted.”

“Because it’s about the book, isn’t it?”

Annie looked back up at Ferb, surprise in her eyes.

He smiled. “You said you were reading a book about us when you found yourself here. Though I’m not certain, I’d say that there’s a possibility that that means that this  _ is _ the book. You came into the story you were reading. But whether it is or it isn’t, readers can sometimes pick up on foreshadowing. Since you’re not sure if this is the book or not, you’re more alert to things that seem like what would happen in a book, and when you heard everyone talking about Phineas’ fit for the role of the Seer, it felt like the way an author would foreshadow something in their story. Mixing that with how Phineas talked about the end of the game, you got upset. And I don’t blame you.” He took a sip of his hot chocolate before continuing. “Annie, I understand how you feel. When I figured out what happened, I got a little scared, too. But then I remembered that you’re here. If an entire character can be added to a story, then who’s to say that the entire ending can’t be changed?”

Annie, wide-eyed at this new perspective, looked down at her hot chocolate again. Slowly, a smile spread over her lips, and she looked back up at Ferb.

He smiled back. “Whatever happens, happens. We’ll work through it together.”

“Thanks, Ferb,” Annie said quietly.

“Dude, I think that is the most I’ve ever heard you say at one time,” Phineas said suddenly, and everyone broke into laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thanks for reading so far! Just wanted to let you know, I'm open to critique and stuff. I know my writing is not the best, and adapting an already existing story to add a character is not easy, haha. Just go easy, I'm trying to learn to take critiques, because I gave up on this before due to a friend critiquing the story :P


	4. Chapter 3

A short while later, Isabella and Annie went back over to the Garcia-Shapiros’ home for dinner; Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro was making enchiladas, and Isabella didn’t want to miss them.

Soon, the Flynn-Fletcher family was also sitting down to dinner in their own home.

“So, how do you like the game so far?”

Ferb looked up from his dinner plate, still chewing on some of his steak. Because his mouth was full, Phineas was the one who answered their father’s question. “It’s really sweet,” the sixteen-year-old replied with a grin. “Ferb and I practically have every part of it explored and unlocked… Well, except for Twilight Lagoon.”

“What’s that?” Lawrence wondered curiously.

“Not what, where, Dad. And it’s only the most beautiful realm in Cantoria. Says so in my official game manual! I’ve got loads of concept art of the people and the realm itself!”

“Why haven’t you unlocked it, then?”

“Insanely difficult to do so. You need, like, a bajillion points in order to unlock it. Ferb and I have only saved up about two thirds of that.”

“You’ve only had that game for about a month, and already you’re near completion?” Linda asked curiously, making Lawrence chuckle.

“Are you kidding? It’s the biggest game world that was ever created, Mom,” Phineas replied after swallowing some food. “It took them near a whole decade to make it so huge. There’s too much to explore for us to be near completion!”

“I hope you two won’t be spending your time on that game for the rest of the school year,” Linda said sternly.

Phineas winked. “No worries, Mom, inventing is still my first priority!” he reassured her.

Lawrence cleared his throat. “I believe she was referring to your grades at school, Phineas,” he muttered with a grin while raising an eyebrow.

Ferb choked on a laugh while Phineas smiled wryly at his parents. “Oh yeah, well, that comes first-first,” he corrected.

“And how about you, Ferb? How do you like the game so far?”

Ferb finished drinking his coke before wiping his mouth on his napkin. “Quite stimulating,” he replied. “There’s always something new to discover. I know most levels like the back of my hand now. And I’ve mastered every single attack my Knight can accomplish. Only three more levels up and I’ll be a Blade Master.”

“My, my, sounds like you’ve been a busy squire,” Lawrence laughed.

Phineas laughed. “Looks like he might have to get even busier, if he doesn’t want Annie to pass him.”

Ferb rolled his eyes.

“What level is she up to, Ferb?”

“... 15.”

Lawrence’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “In only two hours?”

“... More or less…” Ferb mumbled. Phineas laughed again.

“Wow. Looks like you’ve maybe got some competition there, Ferb.”  
“So Phineas keeps reminding me.”

Lawrence laughed. “Well, what about you, Boy? What kind of Knight are you?”

Phineas shook his head. “I’m not a Knight,” he replied. “I’d rather be a Mage—”

“Apparently, magic exists,” Ferb muttered teasingly.

His brother shot him a glare. “Not restarting that!” he scolded. Looking at his father again, Phineas continued. “I don’t like fighting with swords, so I use magic.” He beamed with pride. “BUT, I know every single secret, every single location, and every single power for every single playable character by heart. Even the bad guys. I can name them all like the back of my hand. Plus, I’ve memorized their basic clothing. I can tell the diff between a Rope Maker and a Monk, a Knight and a Squire, a Wizard and a Warlock. Comes in handy when someone doesn’t know who he’s talking to…”

Ferb raised his chin. “Like I could tell that it was a Snitch just like that, sheesh,” he grumbled.

“Uh, yeah, you should. Their eyes are orange, remember? And their pupils look like crosses.”

Lawrence grabbed some vegetables with his fork. “What about the Seer itself?” he asked. “What does it wear?”

Phineas and Ferb exchanged a startled look before both shrugged. “Actually, he’s the only one we don’t know what he wears,” Phineas said. “Because of the special Seer Stone he or she wears around their neck, they have to wear a cloak over themselves in order to hide their identities and powers.”

“Goodness, you boys really do know your video games…”

Linda cleared her throat, catching their attention. “Which is why we will stop talking about this while we’re eating,” she announced. “Dinner is food and family time, not video game time.”

“But when we play video games, we do it together,” Phineas pointed out innocently. He was answered by a punch in the shoulder from Ferb. “Ow! I was kidding, Dude!” Phineas exclaimed, rubbing his shoulder gingerly.

When Ferb had returned to his meal, Linda continued to speak. “Speaking of family.. Phineas, Ferb, your sister and Jeremy are coming over for dinner on Friday, so I want you two off the video games that day, please.”

Ferb shrugged his shoulders while Phineas nodded his head. “We could do that easy,” he replied. “We’ll probably invent something instead—”

“—And I don’t want any inventions, please.”

At these words, even Ferb gave his mother a horrified look. “What?” Phineas gaped. “But Mom, what else are we supposed to do?”

“Homework would be a safe place to start,” Lawrence commented.

“But we always finish early!”

“Then I suppose you can sit in the living room and chat with your sister and her fiancé.”

Phineas was devastated. “Why can’t we invent?!” he exclaimed.

Linda wiped her mouth. “I would like a normal dinner with Candace where she isn’t attempting to, as she puts it, bust you,” she answered. “Every time you guys leave to do something while she’s visiting, she gets all hyped up about it and is distracted for the entire evening while attempting to prove to me that you guys do impossible things.”

“She doesn’t do it all the time!” Phineas argued.

“She does it enough to bother me.”

“But Mom!”

Linda frowned at her youngest son. It was not often that Phineas objected, but when inventing was involved, it was the only time he would rebel. “No inventions and that’s final,” the woman repeated. “You can drop it for a day, Phineas.”

Phineas stood his ground. “But what if I come up with some great idea again?!” he asked while flailing his arms about in the air. “What if that happens while we’re talking with Candace? I’m gonna lose it if I can’t get in on paper, Mom!”

While Lawrence and Ferb had begun to chuckle softly at Phineas’ miming of the scene, Linda, just as stubborn as her son, pointed at him. “You can write it down as a memo, but no drawing,” she said.

“But Moooommm!”

“For goodness’ sake, Phineas Flynn! Why are you fighting it so badly this time?!”

Ferb swallowed his food and wiped his mouth before replying. “We played video games for so long today, we never got the chance to actually build anything,” he explained. “So he’s sort of… cracked.”

“I DON’T CRACK!” Phineas exclaimed, making his stepfather burst into laughter. “I don’t know where you and the others even get that term! I. DON’T. CRACK!”

Linda sighed in exasperation and passed a hand over her face. “I cannot believe you resemble Francis so badly,” she groaned. Uncovering her eyes, she looked up at Phineas again. “Here’s the deal, then: if you get that antsy, then you can run upstairs and grab your sketchbook. But if you even think of dragging Ferb out to the garage or the backyard or even your room, I will ground you from touching a single pencil or pen in this house for an entire week, Phineas Flynn. I will even empty your room and bags of sketchbooks. Is that clear?”

Phineas was not fond of the idea of being grounded from inventing. He was hardly ever punished, considering he was such an honest and kind teenager. But it had happened once, when he played with a robotic Frisbee in the house and smashed Linda’s priceless antique vase. Linda had grounded him from inventing for five days. Though it did not sound like enough to most parents, Linda was more than certain that Phineas had gotten the message.

The sixteen-year-old sighed heavily in defeat and sunk low into his chair. “Crystal,” he groaned miserably, making Ferb and Lawrence laugh again.

*****

_ Wow. Mom actually got ticked at you? That’s a first. _

Phineas grimaced as he typed his reply back to his sister on MSN that evening.  _ She didn’t get ticked, she just gave me a hunkin’ warning. _

While Ferb helped Lawrence with something on the car, Phineas went up to their bedroom, pulled out his laptop, and checked if Candace was online.

_ Last time I checked, that was the beginning of being ticked. I KNEW you weren’t an angel! LOL _ , Candace teased.

The sixteen-year-old grinned amusedly.  _ I never said that I WAS an angel _ , he replied.

_ But everyone believes it… Mr. We’re-Visiting-the-Moon-and-Mom-Won’t-Get-Mad. _

_ She never did. _

_ Because she never believed me! She always thought you and Ferb were just goofin’ around in the backyard! _

As Candace continued to rant on about the amazing feats her brothers had accomplished in the past, Phineas could not help but laugh softly. He still found it amusing that his sister had tried so hard to expose them.

_ You tried so hard to accomplish a pointless act, Candace _ , Phineas typed.  _ Mom had given us permission to do those things. _

_ Oh, don’t give me that, Einstein; if I had tried to do that, she would have flipped. _ There was a pause before his sister continued.  _ Anyway, how’s that crazy game you and Ferb bought? Mom mentioned you two have been playing it more than any other game you own. _

_ Shyah _ , Phineas replied.  _ It’s only, like, THE best game ever… though inventing still tops it by a mile. _

_ No surprise there. Stacy and I started playing the online version of it a little. _

_ Told you you’d like it. _

_ Yeah, yeah, I know… I like being a Mage. It’s fun to blast magic from your fingertips and wands, LOL. What do you and Ferb like to play as? _

_ Ferb’s a Knight. He’s almost levelled up to being a Blade Master for the King. Bufe’s pretty upset that it’s taking him this long to even attempt to get as high as Ferb. But Ferb’s a master, so there’s no surprise. Though he might be knocked off his throne soon, LOL. _

_ Whaat? By who? _

_ Annie. New girl on the block. She’s just visiting for a while, but she played with us today, and she totally kicks butt on this game. She’s up to level 15 already. _

_ You’re kidding! I’ve been playing for a week and I’m only at level 11. _

_ Haha, yeah, I know. 2 hours, 15 levels. No joke. Bufe really wants to see a video game duel between them, to see who’s the ultimate gamer. But with a Mage and a Knight, I’m worried we’d waste all of our resources.. Though it would be epic to watch. _

_ Haha, no kiddin’. So, what about you? What’s your character? _

Phineas paused for a moment, wondering what he would type next to sum up his feelings about his role playing. Sighing, he put his fingers to work.  _ I like being a Mage, too _ , he began,  _ But everyone else thinks I should play as the Seer. _

Candace did not reply for a moment or two.  _ Well, why wouldn’t you? _ she asked.

_ Candy, who would want to play as someone who you KNOW is gonna die anyway? At least with a Mage or anyone else, you get to come back to life. _

_ Phineas, it’s only a game. Besides, the Seer is an important role. It’s up to him or her to make it to the Center of the Labyrinth and save the world. _

Phineas sighed again, this time out of irritation.  _ I know that, Candace _ , he typed.  _ I’ve beaten the game five times already. _

_ Then why don’t you want to be the Seer? _

_ I don’t like the idea of being the main character. I like being a follower. _

_ …… Oh, PLEASE don’t tell me you just wrote that. _

_ Why? _

_ Phineas, it’s YOU who tells Ferb what to build! It’s YOU who designed all of those crazy inventions! It’s YOU Isabella and Baljeet look to for advice! For cryin’ out loud, Phineas, you’re a flippin’ leader! You have no right to say you would rather be a follower when you’re a born leader! _

_ Just because I’m a born leader, it does NOT mean that I enjoy being the center of attention. _

_ Get off it! You’re the lead singer of your band, you’re the lead in that play you guys are doing at school, and you’re even your art class’ best artist, for Pete’s sake! You have everything a leader should have! _

Phineas was beginning to feel more and more pressured into playing a role he did not want to play. It was not often that he got upset at his sister, but when a frown fell over his brow, he made this an exception.  _ What IS it with everyone and telling me to be the Seer??? I like being a Mage and I DON’T like the fact that all the pressure of saving a world is on my shoulders! Never mind I take magic seriously, and the role of the Seer is kind of freaky. So would it hurt if I told you to quit while you’re ahead? _

He pressed enter and waited for a response with his arms crossed. It took Candace a few seconds before she typed anything.  _ Okay, okay, I’m sorry _ , she said.  _ I didn’t think it mattered that much to you, Phineas. I just think that you would be really good in that role. _

_ Thanks, but I like my magic wand, not a death sentence. _

_ Ok, I’ll admit THAT comment made me laugh. _

His frustration dissipating, Phineas grinned again, glad he could amuse his sister.

The sound of the front door downstairs opening and closing caught his attention. Linda had returned from visiting with the neighbours—she had gone out shortly after dinner—and by the sound of it, Lawrence and Ferb were back in the house as well.

Phineas sighed and began typing again.  _ I g2g, Candace _ , he wrote.  _ Mom may need my help with the dishes again. _

_ Aw, how sweet of you _ , Candace replied.  _ You’re an angel again. _

Phineas laughed.  _ I can read the sarcasm in that comment _ , he typed.  _ See you on Friday, Candace. _

_ Bye, Baby Bro. Later. _

Phineas ended the conversation and signed out before closing his laptop and setting his head back against the pillow. With a sigh, he closed his eyes.

The door opened and in walked Ferb, drying his hands off on a cloth. He looked up at his brother before wiping the oil off of his face. “You forgot to put the brakes back on the truck, Phineas,” he noted.

Phineas opened an eye. “My bad,” he muttered. “Sorry, it slipped my mind.”

“Everything like that slips your mind nowadays.”

“I don’t mean it. I just got distracted.”

Ferb gave a small smile before sitting down on his bed. “Who were you chatting with?”

Phineas set his laptop aside and stretched out his arms. “Candace,” he replied. “She thought it was funny that Mom gave me a no-inventing warning.”

His brother nodded subconsciously and then tossed off his shoes.

“Then she asked me why I don’t play as the Seer.”

“And how did that go?”

“... I won’t repeat it.”

Ferb chuckled softly before settling down on his bed with a book. “Phineas, you don’t give yourself enough credit,” he said. “You really would make a good Seer.”

“And why wouldn’t you?” Phineas wondered, turning his head and looking at his brother. “Why couldn’t both of us be eligible to play that role?”

Ferb shrugged his shoulders. “I like being a Knight.”

“And I like being a Mage.”

“Fine, fine. But still.”

Phineas sighed and stared up at the ceiling. “Ferb,” he said softly.

“Yes?”

“Do you… really not believe in magic?”

No response.

“... Anymore?”

Still no response.

“Like… Real Magic?”

Ferb raised his eyes from his book. “What does that mean?”

“Just answer the question, Ferb.”

Ferb look heavenward. “I don’t know,” he replied.

“That’s… not really an answer, Ferb.”

“Why are we discussing this?”

Phineas shrugged. “I dunno… I just had this feeling that I should ask you again… So, do you or not?”

Ferb sighed and looked at his book again. “No, Phineas,” he concluded. “I don’t believe in magic. It’s only tricks that can be explained.”

Although he had expected the answer, Phineas was yet again disappointed. At one point in time, Ferb had believed Magic to be real. But now that they were almost adults, Phineas suspected that children had to stop believing in fairytales and start looking at the rational instead.

Because he relished the idea of magic existing, Phineas had been the only one out of his group of friends who refused to believe otherwise.

After a final moment of silence, Phineas turned onto his side, back facing Ferb, and closed his eyes.

“That’s what I thought,” he whispered.

It wasn’t until a half hour of lonely thoughts later that a small voice echoed in Phineas’ head.  _ No. _ He opened his eyes in surprise as he remembered Annie’s voice coming over the headset.  _ No. _ No, he wasn’t the only one to believe in Magic. No, he wasn’t being stubborn or naive or childish. No, someone else believed with him, someone else clung to the hope and light of Magic. This realization gave him a glimmer of hope, and he smiled and settled into bed, finally able to fall asleep.

*****

Annie had a hard time falling asleep, however. Isabella’s parents had finally voiced their concerns about her not having a place to stay, and it had taken some finagling from Isabella and Annie to convince them that she was okay—she just didn’t have a place just at the moment.

Annie rolled over in the guest bed. She didn’t like lying, but she and Isabella had told them she was an exchange student staying with the Murphys, but they had a leak and she needed a place to stay while they put up in a hotel for a while. Isabella had volunteered the spare bedroom. Isabella had apologized for not telling her parents sooner, “thinking she had”.

Annie hoped the Murphys didn’t mind being dragged into the lie, though she wasn’t sure what choice she had in helping Isabella’s fabrication; there was no way her parents would believe the truth, and even if they did, it would worry them a lot, and there were enough people worrying. Not that it had been her choice to come, but she hated worrying people.

She turned over again, more agitated. David would be worried, though he would try to hide it from the girls. He wouldn’t know that she was okay, and would have no idea where to look for her, though she knew he’d search everywhere to find her. How could she ever expect him to think to look in a book? And how  _ was _ she going to get home? She had no idea how she had even got  _ here _ .

Phineas and Ferb wanted to help. They had asked for more information tonight while they drank hot chocolate. But she didn’t have any to give, and so they didn’t know where to start thinking to come up with solutions.

She took a breath and sat up, knowing she wouldn’t get any sleep anytime soon. She tiptoed out of the room. She peeked in Isabella’s open door, but from the gentle breathing she heard from the darkness, she knew the other girl was asleep. So she tiptoed downstairs by herself, quietly put on her coat and shoes, opened the front door, and slipped outside. She sat on the step, closing her eyes and letting the night air pinch her cheeks, somehow finding some solace in the crisp, quiet cold of the night.

At least until it wasn’t so quiet. She opened her eyes at the sound of footsteps.

“What are you doing out here, Annie?”

“Hey Ferb. I could ask you the same question.”

“I was about to go up to get ready for bed when I saw you out the window. Why are you sitting out here in the cold?”

He joined her on the steps, and she looked down at her feet. “I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking of David.”

“David?”

“My brother.”

“Ah. That makes sense. It would definitely keep me up at night if I were separated from Phineas. Or Candace. Does David even know you’re here?”

Annie shook her head, starting to sniffle.

Ferb put an arm around her, rubbing his hand against her arm for warmth. “Come on, let’s get you inside.”

He led the way to the Flynn-Fletchers’ home, where the two of them shed their coats and shoes and went into the kitchen. Annie sat solemnly at the table as Ferb quietly busied himself making some hot cocoa. Neither spoke, but neither needed to. Annie found it was even more comforting listening to the soft sounds of cups and kettles than to sit in the calm outdoors. Ferb’s quiet presence was soothing somehow, and she found her nerves had started to settle before he had even set down the cup in front of her.

“Mm, this is delicious, Ferb. As good as your mom’s, at least.”

Ferb chuckled. “I’m glad you think so.”


	5. Chapter 4

Powdery snow was falling over the city of Danville when Phineas and Ferb awoke at six o’clock. As usual, Phineas came up with a new idea, and as usual, Ferb looked over it with him. And, as usual, Linda had to call them down for breakfast at seven.

“Phineas, your father will be picking Ferb up at twelve thirty for his dental appointment, and considering they’ll be downtown, they’ll be picking up a few things for the store,” Linda announced as her sixteen-year-old got dressed appropriately to leave the house. “And I will be over at Candace’s house, helping her with a few chores. Which means that you will be home alone for at least two hours or so—”

“Mom, just ‘cause I’m the youngest, it doesn’t mean I don’t know how to stay home alone,” Phineas muttered as he zipped up his jacket. Perry the platypus was lying on the teenager’s backpack, seemingly fast asleep.

Linda grinned as she looked through her purse. “I’m sorry, Phineas, I just want to make sure you’re alright with coming home to an empty house,” she replied. “Last time, you were calling Candace once every fifteen minutes.”

“That’s because you never told me where you were, Dad and Ferb got caught in a traffic jam and couldn’t reach me, and there was a massive storm over the tri-state area,” Phineas pointed out, making Ferb giggle as the green-haired teenager leaned down to tie his shoes. “Plus, to top it off, I had just finished playing through a game of basketball while attempting to fight back a massive headache… not a good combination—Would you just quit while you’re ahead, Genius?!” he exclaimed as Ferb continued to giggle uncontrollably. When all his brother did was laugh some more, Phineas playfully swatted him across the head.

“I’m sorry, you’re so cute when you panic,” Ferb teased.

“Why do you only talk when you have something dorky to say?”

Once Perry had removed himself from Phineas’ backpack, the teenagers left the house, racing as usual.

“See you tonight, Mom,” Phineas shouted over his shoulder as he and Ferb ran out. “Bye, Dad!”

“Have a good day at school,” Lawrence called out from the steps before closing the door.

The bus had not yet arrived, which was a rare occurrence for Phineas and Ferb. On any normal occasion, they enjoyed playing close calls and normally dashed out of the house just as the bus was about to take off again. Today, it seemed as though they were early.

“Hm. Must be ice on the road,” Ferb muttered while looking down the street.

Phineas placed his red toque over his head and looked at his brother. “We have a science test today, right?” he asked. As Ferb nodded, Phineas dug into his pocket and pulled out his mittens. “Guess that means I’ll need to build that contraption myself at lunch hour, huh? Since Dad’s pickin’ you up at twelve thirty?”

“I’m still at school for the first half-hour of lunch,” Ferb pointed out.

“True, but you need to go to the front desk and then wait for Dad, in case he gets there earlier. And knowing Dad, he probably will.” Phineas shrugged. “No biggie, I mean, I’ve done it before, right?”

Ferb smiled amusedly. “With disastrous results,” he teased.

“That is not true!” Phineas laughed, shoving his brother aside. “I’ve been able to build them without a mistake… just as long as they’re smaller than my body, that’s all.”

Ferb chuckled while rolling his eyes, but was cut off when Phineas suddenly pushed him backwards into the snow. “I’m on first again!” the redhead exclaimed as he dashed towards the sidewalk. When the British-born American looked to the street, he saw the school bus slow to a stop.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Ferb muttered as he quickly got to his feet and ran after his brother.

Thanks to all the running he did in sports, he could sprint fairly quickly; so he reached Phineas just as the teenager was about to enter the bus. Ferb grabbed his brother’s backpack and pulled Phineas back out as hard as he could. The young tinkerer shouted in surprise as he stumbled backwards and fell into a pile of snow.

Ferb saluted him and dashed into the bus. With a laugh, Phineas got to his feet and dashed in after him.

Annie was sitting with Isabella in the black-haired girl’s designated seat, both looking at a magazine together, when the boys came in—the girls had run some early morning errands so they were picked up a few stops earlier. As usual, all eyes were watching the boys as they fought to enter the bus first. Isabella grinned in amusement as Ferb dashed in first this time, wearing a bright grin—and then her heart fluttered as Phineas stumbled on behind him, his clothes covered in snow.

Even when he looked silly, she thought he was cute.

Phineas leaped onto Ferb as they reached their seat before looking up at his childhood friend and smiling brightly. “Hey, Isabella,” he said cheerfully. “Watcha doin’?”

*****

Phineas’ assumptions had been correct; Lawrence arrived at the school fifteen minutes early, disappointing Ferb a little—he had wanted to stay and help his brother with at least the start of the building of his invention. Luckily for him, Phineas had promised to take pictures.

The rest of the afternoon dragged on for Phineas until the final bell rang. Along with Isabella, he got on the bus and rode it home—the art teacher had seen Annie sketching at lunch and had asked her to join the art club that afternoon, and at the urging of her friends, she had accepted the invitation.

It was not often that Phineas got this time alone on the bus with Isabella. Although he found his heart thumping in odd rhythms most of the time, Phineas had come to enjoy the few moments he had alone with his closest friend. Ever since they had been very young, in fact, even before Ferb moved in, Phineas and Isabella had spent several minutes to several hours a day simply talking about things, whether they were silly or not.

Isabella, despite the fact that Phineas’ obliviousness was still irritating her, relished the moments they spent alone. It hardly ever happened, more or less because Phineas wanted to include everyone. That’s why she would text him sometime every evening, just to chat. Often, it was to hear him say something encouraging—Isabella knew more than anyone that Phineas could put the sun back in the sky on a cloudy day; all of her problems seemed like nothing when his comforting words penetrated her.

_ If only he wasn’t so dull on the romance level, maybe he wouldn’t be so fidgety when I ask to speak with him alone _ , Isabella thought. She had noticed Phineas’ seemingly anxious actions more and more often, but never took them to be incredibly serious just yet.  _ He’s a boy _ , she would tell herself.  _ All boys do silly things like that around girls, except for Ferb. He’s got the gentleman role down pat. _

When the bus stopped in front of Phineas’ house, he hardly noticed his friend’s disappointment; but he winked and smiled anyway while waving. “Finish your homework, get home after visiting your grandparents, and catch me on the edge of the Fields of Ashes in The Seer, okie doke?” he said.

Isabella waved back. “You betcha, Phinny!” she replied.

Phineas hopped down the steps of the bus before turning around and watching it head down the street to Isabella’s stop. Then, he turned and walked towards the house while pulling out his key. “Perry’s probably still on his daily mission, so that means I’ve got the entire house to myself to do homework and then play video games…” He sighed. “I could invent, but Ferb’s not here to start building with me; so I guess the only thing left to do is think up ideas while I’m playing with Izzie.” He jogged up the front steps while tossing the key into the air. “Hee hee, good thing I know how to multitask when inventing is involved, or else—”

He was just putting the key in the lock when a bright light suddenly crossed over his eyes, causing him to recoil and pull the key away again.

“Whoa! What the—?” Phineas exclaimed while shielding his face. Turning his head, he rubbed his eyes and opened them. Lying in the snow a few feet away in their yard was something round and extremely shiny. It seemed to cast a light on its own, since no sunrays were strong enough to penetrate the clouds above.

Phineas put down his arm and stared at the object in odd curiosity. Perhaps Ferb had dropped one of his tools on the way to the bus? Maybe their mother had lost the extra key to the house again? Whatever it was, Phineas’ childlike curiosity immediately ordered his body to turn away from the door and go see what it was. And, as usual, Phineas did just that.

Jumping off the steps, he landed in the soft fluffy snow and began trudging across the front yard to the glow nearby. When he was standing over it, Phineas squatted down and reached into the snow to pull out the item.

It was a stone, smooth to the touch and almost completely flat. Phineas tilted his head curiously as its glow dimmed so that he could study its structure. Now, it looked as though the rock was made of glass, containing a type of light that rippled with shades of blue, pink, and purple.

“Woooowww,” Phineas whispered in awe while holding the stone up to his eyes. “What’s something as beautiful as you doing out here in the snow?”

The stone seemed to cast a bright ripple of light in reply before dimming again. The teenager stared at it for a little longer before realizing that it was still winter outside and that the wind was beginning to get a little chilly. Rising to his feet while tucking the gem in his pocket, he pulled out his key again and dashed to the front door.

*****

HONK! HOOOONNNKK!! BEEP!!

Lawrence groaned in frustration before slapping the wheel of his truck. “Blasted traffic; it always seems to happen when we’re on our way back home early!” he complained. “There is a bypass for a reason, you know!”

Ferb was just as tired as his father was; they had been sitting in traffic for nearly an hour now. It was nearly four thirty, and all he had to entertain himself was his cell phone and iPod, which was beginning to be low on battery.

“Blast this nonsense,” his father muttered stubbornly. He looked at his son. “Almost reminds me of Charlene’s driving.”

“Her driving was more reckless,” Ferb replied without looking up. “And she would curse at the driver in front of her every five seconds. Even if it was a bobby or someone of the sort.”

Lawrence sighed. “I just hope Annie’s alright. I feel bad that she’s been waiting so long now.”

“I’m sure she’s fine, Father. I texted her to tell her we were stuck in traffic, and she had her sketchbook.” He smiled a little. “You should see her sketches. They’re really good.”

Lawrence smiled, though he continued to look ahead at the road. Ferb turned back to his phone.

After moving another few inches, Lawrence sighed and sat back in his seat, leaving his hands to simply rest on the wheel. “Have you given Phineas a call yet? He must be wondering where we are.”

Ferb switched apps went through his contact list. “He’s not actually afraid of staying home alone, you know,” he muttered.

Lawrence giggled. “I know that,” he replied as his son held the phone up to his ear. “But it’s so much fun pushing his buttons, since he won’t do anything more than squeak angrily.”

Although Ferb was not incredibly fond of people teasing his little brother, he did have to agree with his father—Phineas hardly, if ever, yelled at anyone or held a grudge.

The phone at the other end of the line began to ring. Lawrence looked at him. “Are you calling the landline or Phineas’ phone?” he wondered.

“Phineas’,” Ferb replied. “Knowing him, he’ll have it nearby in case Isabella calls.”

“... Has he, uh—”

Ferb chuckled softly and then shot his father a sarcastic look. Lawrence giggled before looking at the road again. “Romance is tricky,” he muttered.

“No, Phineas is simply blind.”

“Bah, he’s young; he’s got an entire life ahead of him.”

“But not Isabella.”   
Lawrence laughed at this. Ferb smiled until another sound turned his attention away from his father—the sound of a line being cut. The sixteen-year-old frowned in confusion and held the phone away in order to study it. His father looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?” he wondered.

“The phone just cut off,” Ferb replied. He pressed the redial button and held it up to his ear once more before receiving the same response. “Odd… I thought Phineas had given his phone an upgrade?”

Changing settings, he wrote a text and sent it.

Barely ten seconds had passed when Ferb received a text:  _ Hey, what’s up? _

“Okay, his text is working but the phone is not,” Lawrence muttered. “Try asking him if he heard anything.”

Doing as he was told, Ferb wrote a second text and sent it to his brother. A few seconds later, Phineas sent his reply:  _ Nnnnooo, my phone seems to be working properly. _

“Did you hear my ringtone, though?” Ferb muttered aloud as he texted a third time and sent.

_ … U called? Funny, my cell didn’t even vibrate. _

_ … Try calling me, then. _

_ Now? _

_ Yeah. _

Ferb set his phone down and stared at it in silence, waiting for the call. After stopping the car again, Lawrence looked at it, too. Then, just as he was suspecting that it wouldn’t work, Ferb’s cell phone rang.

“That’s very strange,” Lawrence muttered as his son grabbed the phone and pressed the talk button.

Ferb held the phone up to his ear, but hardly a second had gone by before he recoiled painfully.

“Whoa!” he gasped.

“What?”

“There’s some kind of interference going on. Like what you would get on television or the radio…” Ferb placed the phone against his ear again. “Phineas? Are you there?” he asked.

“... Ferb…”

“What’s wrong with your phone?”

“Nothing… Why?”

“I can hardly hear you.”

“I can hear you just fine…”

“There’s some kind of interference. Did you maybe add something to it again?”

“... Ferb, I haven’t upgra… phone since las…mer…”

“Oh, great, now he’s cutting off,” Ferb muttered to his father. “Phineas, I can barely hear you. Are you sure there’s nothing wrong with your cellphone?”

“...se I’m su… It wor… morning… Fer…”

“What was that?”

“I sai…!”

Suddenly, the line went dead again. Ferb held the phone away for a moment before ending the call and looking at his father.

Lawrence smiled compassionately. “I’m sure it’s just a bug, Ferb,” he said, knowing his son’s protectiveness for his stepbrother. “Phineas’ phone probably hit a dead zone or something. Try not to worry about it.”

Ferb looked at him while Lawrence began driving the car once more. Then, in a last attempt, the sixteen-year-old tried sending a text to his brother.

This time, the text did not even go through.

*****

It was six o’clock when the front door finally opened. Linda walked in, arms filled with groceries. “As if you two were in traffic that long,” she teased, giggling, while she kicked her shoes off.

Lawrence, followed by Ferb, entered the house behind her, covered in snow. “Well, getting cut off and landing in the ditch did not help much either,” the man replied as his son closed the door behind him. “We were lucky that man pulled over to help us. And then, of course, we had to pick up Annie from the school. Poor girl, I think she filled half her sketchbook waiting for us. At least Mr. Beauregard was kind enough to let her stay in his office so she didn’t have to sit outside. But, detours aside, we’re home just in time for dinner! Isn’t that right, Ferb?”

Ferb looked up from brushing the snow off of his coat. With a small grin, he nodded, then turned to hang the coat up.

“What’s on the menu tonight, Dear?” Lawrence asked.

Linda set her groceries down on the counter. “Lasagne and veggies,” she replied. “Candace made them for me while I did some cleaning in their bathroom.”

“Aw, how sweet of her… Phineas should enjoy that. He loves her cooking.”

Linda laughed softly. “Phineas loves everything about Candace, Lawrence. He admires her on all levels.”

“Speaking of the little bugger, where is he?” Lawrence cupped his hands around his mouth. “Phineas! Phineas, we’re ho-ome!”

“We have some of Candace’s cooking!” Linda added. When no reply came, she shared a puzzled look with her husband. “I wonder what he’s doing up there?”

While Lawrence shrugged, Ferb picked up his bag and headed for the stairs. “It’s alright, I’ll let him know.” However, as he ascended the stairs, he began wondering again if his brother was alright or not. Unknown to his father, Ferb had been secretly worrying about Phineas since he had not received any reply to his text. He attempted to remain calm as he continued up the stairs, but as soon as he had reached the second floor, Ferb broke into a sprint and dashed for his bedroom.

Without hesitation, he turned the doorknob and swung the door open. “Phineas!” he exclaimed. Ferb stopped in his tracks; there, sitting on the bed, reading a book, was Phineas. As soon as the door opened and his name was shouted, the teenager raised his head and looked up inquisitively at his stepbrother. Perry was sleeping near Ferb’s bed, on the little purple cushion. Ferb stared in surprise at his brother before blinking and shaking some sense into his head. “Uuuhh, you’re… alright,” he stated. After a moment of silence, he stepped into the room. “Um, what happened to your cell?”

Phineas looked at the phone, which was lying by the lamp. “Uuuuhhh… it malfunctioned,” he hesitated. He quickly looked back at his book and seemed to fight the temptation to raise his hand up to his ear.

_ He’s hiding something _ , Ferb noticed. “Are… you sure that’s what happened?” he asked as he set his bag down.

“Y-yes.” Phineas’ reply was quick yet reluctant all at once.

Ferb noticed fear in his brother’s reply; it worried him, but he decided not to question it at the moment. “Uh, Mother brought some of Candace’s lasagne for dinner. Did you want to—”

“—I’m… not hungry, Ferb.”

_ Okay, since when does Phineas say no to Candace’s cooking? _ Ferb walked up to his bed and sat down on the side facing Phineas’. “Is everything alright, Phin?” he asked softly.

Phineas closed his book and set it aside before laying down on his bed. He stared up at the ceiling and said nothing as he closed his eyes. Obviously, he knew that Ferb would be able to read what his dark blue irises were hiding, and so closing them would temporarily keep his brother from discovering whatever Phineas knew.

Ferb did not like this. Phineas only did it when something was bothering him. “Phineas, what’s wrong?” Ferb asked, much more concerned now.

Phineas was silent for a moment longer. “... N-nothing,” he replied faintly.

“But—”

Phineas sighed loudly yet miserably and turned onto his side, back facing Ferb. He hugged himself and tucked his legs against his stomach. “Just… leave me alone, Ferb,” he whispered, almost fearfully. “I need to… think about things.”

Ferb did not normally worry this badly about Phineas; like everyone, Phineas needed time alone, even if he was normally so outgoing and cheerful. But even when Phineas would close off for a while, he wouldn’t shut Ferb out; and now, when something was obviously dreadfully wrong, Phineas refused to talk to his best friend about it, and that worried Ferb greatly.

On any normal occasion, Ferb would remain there until Phineas would speak to him. But this seemed too serious a matter—there was no way Phineas would speak to him about anything yet; the time was not right. So all Ferb could do was get to his feet and leave the room. And he did just that—very reluctantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't see Annie much in this one, but it was an important chapter to include. Hope you all are enjoying! Also, lemme know if you want chapter summaries. I don't have any now, but if you want some I can put in the little extra effort :)


	6. Chapter 5

Morning came with sunshine, making the fresh snow look as though it was covered in beautiful white sparkles. It would have been the perfect day to adventure outside and build another great invention, had it not been for the fact that there were still classes to attend.

Ferb woke up at the usual hour he and Phineas normally did; Phineas was up fifteen minutes after him.

Phineas pulled out his sketchbook and attempted to come up with another idea, but Ferb could tell that he was having difficulty—undoubtedly he was still bothered by whatever had happened the day before. Phineas would begin jotting notes down or sketching something out but then he would stop and scribble over it or erase his work. He had to tear out a page at one point because it was so covered in scribbles. And as Phineas tried again and again to form an idea, Ferb noticed that Phineas never flashed a single smile. There were no laughs, no exclamations, not even a pillow fight. Phineas would often begin his day by grabbing his pillow and tossing it across the room onto Ferb, who would in turn would wake up and toss it back—but Phineas never picked up his pillow that morning.

He never announced what they were going to do that day.

Even more alarming, he hardly made any eye contact with Ferb at all.

But whatever Ferb tried, Phineas would not tell him what was on his mind.

“Phineas, are you feeling alright?” Linda asked later that morning as the boys sat down for breakfast. She had noticed her son’s gloomy look and that he had hardly touched his cereal. Walking over to the table, Linda held out a hand and placed it against her son’s forehead. “Hm, you don’t feel hot…” Lawrence and Ferb looked on silently as they ate their own breakfast, though Ferb’s appetite had seemed to shrink as well. He ate slowly, more focused on how his brother was doing than on his food.

Phineas moved his head away. “I’m fine, Mom,” he said softly. He looked at her with tired eyes. “I just had a rough night, that’s all.”

“Did you stay up playing that video game again?”

“No… I just couldn’t sleep…”

Ferb noticed the hesitance in his stepbrother’s voice; whatever Phineas was hiding, did it have something to do with the game?

Linda seemed convinced that something was wrong as well. She looked worriedly at Phineas. “Are you sure you’re not sick?” she pressed. “I’m not working today; I can take you to the doctor if you need to go…”

To his family’s surprise, Phineas grabbed her hand and held it in both of his, almost as though he was afraid to let go. He stared at it for a moment in silence before he stood up and let it go, instead wrapping his arms around her neck and burying his face in her shirt.

Linda was at once startled and worried by this movement. But, deciding it was not a good time to ask questions, she simply wrapped her arms around Phineas’ waist and held him closely.

“Could you drive me to school, Mom?” Phineas whispered, almost too softly for the others to hear.

Linda remained silent for a moment before rubbing his head. “Is there something you need to tell me, Sweetie?” she asked quietly.

“No… I just want you to drive me to school.”

“If you really need me to, I can… We’ll just tell the bus driver that you and Ferb—”

Phineas shook his head. “Not Ferb,” he interrupted. “Just me… Ferb can ride the bus.”

Linda raised her eyebrows in surprise and looked at her stepson. Ferb had heard those words as well, and was just as startled as his parents were.

“Did you two have an argument?” Linda asked in her son’s ear.

Phineas moved his head. “... No… I just want him to ride the bus…”

Though still utterly confused by these words, Linda finally complied and told Ferb to mention to the bus driver that Phineas would be going to school with her. Ferb did as he was told, but not without a drop of concern and confusion.

Isabella and Annie were surprised to see only Ferb get on the bus that morning. They watched him walk up to the seat behind them and take his place before Isabella cleared her throat. “Uh, where’s Phineas?”

Ferb placed his bag next to him. “He’s going to school with Mum.”

“Does he have an appointment?”

“No… he just didn’t want to ride the bus.”

Isabella frowned in confusion. “That’s weird,” she muttered. Beside her, Annie’s brow creased over her frown, and she started to play with her hair as she listened to the conversation.

Ferb shook his head. “No, what’s weird is that he looks like he’s hiding something.”

Both girls looked at him in surprise. Annie’s finger stopped in mid-twirl, and her hair fell limply over her hand.

Looking up at them, Ferb crossed his arms. “And I think he’s avoiding me. He didn’t come up with anything to do this lunch hour; he seemed too preoccupied. And he never even looked at me.” Ferb looked at his feet worriedly. “I don’t think I said anything to bother him… I mean, all I did was attempt to text him to find out why his cellphone was acting up…”

“Yeah, he mentioned that when we were playing The Seer yesterday,” Isabella noted. Annie and Ferb looked at her. “After our homework, Phineas asked if I’d like to play video games with him. Just him and me—believe it or not,” she added sardonically. “Anyway, he said that you had tried to call while he was doing homework, but you couldn’t hear him and the line went dead.”

Ferb nodded.

“I found that kinda weird, but didn’t dwell on it until I lost communication with him…”

At these words, Annie’s eyes widened and Ferb raised his head again and stared at her in bewilderment. “Repeat that?” he asked.

Isabella shrugged. “Just when I was going to open the chest we found, Phineas said that the lights in the house went out,” she explained. “And then when I said that it might be a short circuit, he asked me to repeat because he couldn’t hear me. And then… the line went dead and his Mage just froze in place with the word offline floating over his head.”

Annie settled back in her seat, facing forward again as she resumed furiously playing with her hair. Ferb frowned in confusion. “Did you try calling him? he asked.

“Yeah… but his cell was always busy. And then my texts wouldn’t go through for some reason.”

“Odd… my last text never went through either.”

Isabella rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “After at least an hour, I tried texting him again, and this time it went through… but he never texted me back. What happened when you got home?”

“Phineas… wanted to be left alone,” Ferb said quietly. “He said that he had things to think through. He never came down for dinner, and he was already tucked in bed when I came back upstairs…”

“This is really strange… Phineas is never  _ this _ secretive. You think something’s wrong?”

“Either that… or something will be.”

*****

They arrived at school to find Baljeet and Buford already waiting by Ferb’s locker. Neither of them had seen or even noticed Phineas arrive—Baljeet was normally at school early, since he only lived a few blocks down the street, but he never even saw Linda’s car pull into the school parking lot.

“Did he have an appointment?” the Indian teenager asked.

Ferb shook his head in reply.

“Apparently, he’s been acting really secretive,” Isabella announced. “Something happened yesterday when I was playing The Seer with him and—”

“Oh! You mean you two played without telling us???” Baljeet interrupted excitedly.

“Does that mean he took you on a cyber-date or something?” Buford added.

Isabella shot him an irritated glare while Ferb rolled his eyes. “No,” she said behind clenched teeth.

“Oh, so then, did he openly announce his feelings to you?” Baljeet wondered.

“He’s not that smart, Dweeb,” Buford muttered. “We are talking about the same guy who’s been oblivious about romance since he was a kid.”

Isabella was becoming more and more annoyed. Ferb sighed and pulled off his coat and gloves. “Bottom line, Phineas and Isabella were cut off for about an hour and when I came back home, he seemed bothered by something but refused to talk to me about it.”

“Phineas is hiding something from us?” Baljeet said in shock.

“No,” Isabella muttered stubbornly. “From us.” She pointed to herself and Ferb.

“That’s what I said. From us.”

Isabella squeezed her fists in frustration.

“Anyway,” Buford groaned while grabbing Baljeet’s shirt collar and pulling him backwards. “What are we supposed to do about his attitude? So Dinner Bell’s gotten secretive; who isn’t nowadays?”

“Phineas isn’t,” Ferb insisted. “He gets too excited about things to keep secrets. From me at least. The only secret he kept from anyone other than myself was how his father died.”

“Whoop-dee-doo. He’s sixteen, for cryin’ out loud. Everyone becomes a little moody and secretive at that age, Dude. It’s called puberty.”

Ferb shot him an irritated glare as Isabella impatiently interjected, “Could we change the subject or something? I’ve got a feeling this is going somewhere girls don’t want to go… Not to mention puberty usually happens a few years before sixteen, Dork.”

“Whatever. Back to my question, then. What are we supposed to do about Pointy’s attitude?”

“We need to find a way to get him to tell us what’s bothering him.”

“Nice; my kind of job.” Buford smirked and smacked his right fist against the palm of his left hand. “Where do you want me to start: clobbering or locker stuffing?”

Isabella, Baljeet, and Annie’s eyes widened at this, but Ferb scowled and took a step forward. “We aren’t going to use violence to force Phineas to tell us anything,” he asserted sternly.

“Well, how else are we going to get what we need?”   
“By asking politely.”   
“Uh-huh, and how well has that worked for you so far?”

No one said anything for a moment. Ferb and Isabella stared at Buford in silence before looking at each other.

Baljeet shook his head with a sigh while Buford rolled his eyes. “Yyyeah, that’s what I thought.”

Silence fell over them until the five-minute warning bell rang. The students around them rushed off to class before they got a tardy, slamming their lockers closed and picking up their bags as they left.

Isabella was about to suggest they all do the same when voices down the hallway caused them to turn their heads.

“Hiya, Phineas,” a girl cooed.

“What are you making at lunch hour, Phineas?” another wondered.

Sure enough, headed towards the five teenagers was none other than the tinkerer himself. His head was hanging and his eyes were red with tiredness and worry. He didn’t respond to any of the giggles girls aimed at him as he made his way slowly down the hall.

“You got here pretty late for someone who took the short route to school,” Buford noted.

Phineas did not look up at him. He simply walked past his friends, unlocked his locker, and stuffed his things inside. “I… just went for a walk around the school yard,” he said softly. He pulled out a binder from his locker, then dug into his jacket pocket.

Ferb looked on in surprise for a moment; he was not sure if his eyes had played tricks on him, but from where he was standing, he thought he had seen something glowing in his brother’s hand as Phineas pulled his hand out of his jacket pocket again. He seemed to put great effort into moving the whatever-it-was to his jeans pocket without anyone noticing.

And for the most part, he succeeded. “Phineas, what happened yesterday during the blackout?” Isabella asked meekly, leaning towards him. She, Buford, and Baljeet seemed not to have noticed the glowing item. Ferb glanced at Annie; he couldn’t be sure whether she had seen it or not, but he did notice that she was biting her bottom lip harder and twirling her hair more furiously than she had been just a few minutes ago.

Phineas stuffed his jacket into his locker but did not look at his friend. “Nothing important,” he replied quietly.

“But Ferb said—”

“—I just had to get a few things… thought out, that’s all.”

“But you never came back to the game after.”

“...I didn’t feel like playing it.”

Baljeet gasped. “Did I hear that right?” he said, pretending to clean out an ear. “Did you just say that you did not want to play… The Seer???”

“Weren’t you the guy who was flippin’ out when you bought it?” Buford pointed out.

Phineas closed his locker and kept his head down. “I didn’t feel like playing, that’s all,” he repeated.

“But—”

“I didn’t feel like playing, Buford. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

Buford fell silent. The teenagers stared at Phineas as he stared at the floor for a moment. “I’ll see you guys in class,” he muttered, though not sounding very thrilled with the idea, then he turned and walked off.

They watched him leave until Buford frowned and crossed his arms. “Okay, I give. If we’re gonna figure out what the heck’s crawled up his leg, then we’d better do it before his ‘tude ticks me off.” He looked at Ferb. “Since you’re the next one in line for the idea-making-ups, what are we going to do today?”

Ferb looked at him in silence before turning his head again and watching his brother leave.

*****

Morning went by quietly and incredibly slowly for Ferb. Although Phineas sat next to him during the classes they shared, the green-haired teenager did not dare ask his brother what he was hiding—he was going to wait until classes were over and see if his brother would be more open then.

Isabella, Baljeet, and Annie mentioned to Ferb that in the one morning class they had together with Phineas and not Ferb, the redhead had hardly spoken at all, or even looked at them.

In Science class, Ferb was once again sitting next to his brother, but Ferb thought it would be best to continue to keep silent for the time being.

Phineas hardly looked up as his teacher taught about the human body and its organs. He was spending most of his time playing with his fingers, almost as if nervously waiting for something to happen. This worried Ferb even more, considering Science was one of his and Phineas’ favorite classes.

“... Now that all of you know what most of the basic organs are and how they work, we’re going to go a little more into detail about them,” the teacher announced. “I hope all of you read the assigned reading from last week…”

“Shoot, I knew I forgot something,” Ferb heard Buford mutter from his and Baljeet’s table. Ferb wasn’t surprised, though; Buford hardly ever did his reading.

The man at the front of the class rubbed his hands together. “So! Time for the first question, hm?” He looked over the classroom. “Phineas?”

The redhead stopped playing with his fingers and raised his head. All the students turned to look at him. They all knew Phineas did his homework, and they knew that he always had the most interesting, if not funniest, way to answer every question.

The teacher pointed at him. “Can you tell me what red-blooded body organ vitamins A, B, D, E, and K stored in?”

Phineas looked at him in silence for a moment after quickly glancing at his classmates. Then, he lowered his eyes and resumed playing with his fingers. “Uh, the liver,” he replied.

Though the rest of the students continued to look on in shock for a moment, the man was satisfied with this answer and nodded his head. “Correct,” he said, turning towards the whiteboard at the front of the class. After another moment, the rest of the class slowly turned their attention back to the teacher; all except Ferb.

Ferb hesitated again asking his brother what was wrong. Phineas did not look up at him. He even seemed to be trying to ignore that his brother was there at all.

Ferb was about to try to go back to taking notes again when he noticed movement in the corner of his eye. When he glanced over, he saw that Phineas had pulled his hands away from each other and was slowly pulling his right hand toward him. He reached down into his jeans pocket and began to pull something out.

Something shining.

Ferb ceased trying to take notes and finally turned his head towards his brother so that he could see more clearly. Sure enough, Phineas had pulled out the same object Ferb had seen earlier that morning. It was a glowing stone that looked like a flat, hollow piece of glass that had been filled with blue, pink, and purple liquid. It was the most beautiful thing Ferb had ever laid his eyes on.

It also looked slightly familiar, for some reason.

The English-born student’s eyes widened in amazement. “Where did you find that?” he whispered.

Phineas snatched up his head and stared in bewilderment at his brother—he had obviously not expected Ferb to be paying attention.

Ferb waited for an answer anyway. Phineas continued to stare at him in silent shock before turning his head away and beginning to study the stone in his hands. “Nowhere important,” he whispered back.

Ferb’s concern grew, almost becoming irritation. He leaned toward his brother. “How long is it going to take for you to realize that I’m not an idiot?” he whispered. “You’re hiding something, and I want to know what it is.”   
“It’s nothing important.”

“What does that mean???”

“... It means what it means. Nothing important.”

Ferb tightened his lips. “Phineas, your behaviour is beginning to worry me. Since when do you ever keep secrets? From me???”

“It’s just something I can’t let you be a part of,” Phineas replied, looking up at Ferb without moving his head.

Ferb recognized the same fear in his brother’s eyes that he had seen the night before. It made him grow even more concerned for his brother. “Phineas, please tell me what’s going on,” he pleaded. “If it’s something serious—”

“I can’t, Ferb,” Phineas interrupted. “I… I just can’t tell you.”

“Why not???”

The stone in Phineas’ hands began to glow brightly. The redhead gasped and clamped his hands over it, trying to shield its light. “Stop it, stop it,” he pled behind clenched teeth.

“What is it doing?”   
“Nothing.”   
“Phineas, it just glowed like a beacon, and you’re telling me it was nothing???”

“Ferb, please stop. I don’t want you to be a part of this.”

“Part of what?!”

The sound of someone loudly clearing their throat caused both boys to raise their heads and look up.

Most of the students were staring at them in curiosity; in fact, the only one who did not seem the slightest bit curious was their science teacher. The man had his arms crossed and was staring at them with a soft frown. “Is there something you’d like to share with the rest of the class, Phineas and Ferb?”

Phineas and Ferb blinked several times before Ferb pulled himself away from his stepbrother and looked down at his notebook while blushing—he hardly ever did anything to upset his teachers.

Phineas also blushed as he stuffed the rock back into his pocket. “No, Sir.”

“Good, then if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like the two of you to pay attention now.”

The man returned to his teaching, and the rest of the students turned and focused again on the lesson. Ferb, however, couldn’t concentrate due to his growing curiosity and concern about his brother’s behavior.

It had something to do with that stone; at least Ferb knew that much now.

*****

“Phineas! Phineas, check this out!”

The lunch hour bell had hardly rung when Phineas heard someone call to him from down the hallway. Turning around while tucking his science books beneath his arm, the redhead watched as a teenager with short golden brown hair and thick, round glasses rushed towards him, holding up a scale model of a city with a rollercoaster weaving through it.

Phineas’ eyebrows raised and he forced up a grin; it was Irving, one of the students in his grade and Phineas and Ferb’s self-proclaimed biggest fan. He had kept records of every single one of the ‘Flynn-Fletcher Big Ideas’. He had joined them on some occasions and asked for their help at others. When they entered high school, he became one of the school’s newspaper photographers, just as an excuse to take more pictures of the inventive duo.

Phineas had tried on numerous occasions not to mind Irving’s company, but with a camera and excited squeals, Irving often made him incredibly uncomfortable. Phineas had never intended to become the center of attention, and the inventions he came up with were only meant for fun, not fame; so having a camera stuffed in his face every day and hearing the words “You’re so awesome!” over and over again made Phineas uneasy whenever Irving was around.

But he tried his best to be polite, as always, and when Irving called to him, Phineas turned around to greet him. “Hey, Irving,” he said as the teenager stopped before him. “What’s up?”

“This!” Irving grinned excitedly, holding up his model. “I did it for a project in one of my classes. Recognize it?!”

Phineas looked at the maquette. It was definitely the city of Danville—he recognized several buildings, including his house. Twisting around and above the skyscrapers was a rollercoaster, complete with rubber snakes and mud. And sitting inside one of the cars were two familiar figures—a redheaded boy and a green-headed boy.

Phineas grinned, impressed, and looked at Irving. “The Rollercoaster,” he said.

“Heee! You recognized it!” Irving squealed.

“Of course I did. That was the first official big thing Ferb and I ever did. Why did you build it?”

“We had to reproduce a memorable event in our lives, so I reproduced one of your inventions! Pretty neat, huh?”

Phineas leaned back. “Yep, pretty neat,” he agreed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Pretty impressive, too, Irving. Must have taken you a lot of time.”

“Heck yeah. And a bunch of trips to the store.”

“And, obviously, a lot of patience,” Phineas added with a laugh.

Irving beamed. “I can take photos of it and send them to you and Ferb if you’d like.”

Phineas shrugged. “Sure; I can add it to our project binder in the Rollercoaster file.”

Irving squealed loudly, making Phineas flinch. “This is SO awesome!” The teenager with round glasses exclaimed. He turned on his heels and dashed off. “You ROCK!”

Phineas rubbed one of his ears. “Apparently,” he muttered, continuing on his way.

*****

"I-I know Phineas is worrying you, Ferb, but maybe we should step back a little. He obviously really doesn't want to tell anyone what's going on."

"Yeah, that's what's worrying me, Annie."

"But—”

Ferb, Isabella, Baljeet, Buford, and Annie were headed for their lockers only a few minutes behind Phineas when Irving came running in their direction. The teenager cried out happily and nearly stuffed the maquette in Ferb’s face. “Check it out! I made this for a project and Phineas said I can send you guys pictures!” he exclaimed. “And that he’d add it to your project binder! Isn’t that sweet?!”   
Ferb nearly fell backwards, but, luckily, Baljeet and Isabella were there to catch him. He straightened the pair of sunglasses he had sitting on his head and then nodded gratefully at the student.

Irving squealed again and continued on his way, nearly bumping into Annie in his excitement. “YOU ROCK, TOO!”

They watched him leave before Ferb got back to his feet. “That kid is even more annoying that he was five years ago,” Buford groaned.

“He’s only trying to be friendly,” Isabella pointed out.

“Sure; but I wouldn’t be surprised if Phineas and Ferb lose their hearing by graduation day because of him.”   
They resumed their walking down the hall until they had reached the first set of lockers. There, much to Ferb’s relief, they found Phineas still digging through his locker.

Ferb pulled himself away from the others and rushed over to his brother. Without waiting for Phineas to look at him, Ferb frowned and stuck his hand into his brother’s pocket. Phineas cried out in surprise and jumped back, removing his brother’s hand. He placed a hand over his pocket and stared at Ferb in shock. “What the heck was that about?!” he exclaimed.

“I want to see that stone of yours,” Ferb replied, crossing his arms. The others had caught up now and were looking on curiously.

“Ferb, for the last time—”   
“If it’s nothing, as you say, then why can’t I look at it?”

Phineas stared at him, worry in his eyes. “Ferb…” But when all his brother did was stare back just as worriedly, Phineas sighed and pulled out the stone.

Isabella, Baljeet, Buford, and Annie gaped and stared at the glowing rock in awe. “Woooowwww!!!” Baljeet exclaimed.

Annie bit her lip and started playing with her hair.

“That’s the most beautiful stone I’ve ever seen,” Isabella said in wonder. “Where did you find it?”

Phineas held the stone firmly in both of his hands, keeping it near to his body. “In the yard,” he replied. “When I came home yesterday. It was sitting in the snow, so I…” He looked down at the rock as his eyes darkened. “... picked it up.”

Ferb noticed the sudden shame in Phineas’ eyes. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but he knew Phineas would not give him the answer.

“You didn’t mention it when we were playing games,” Isabella pointed out.

Phineas shrugged. “I didn’t think it was important at the time…”

“Important?” Buford interjected. “Didn’t Ferb just say that you said it was nothing???” He crossed his arms. “You are hiding something, aren’t you, Dinner Bell?”

Phineas shook his head quickly.

Baljeet walked over to and reached out for the stone. “Then, if you are not, would you mind if I held it to get a better look?” he asked.

But Phineas gasped and held the stone away from him. “No!” he exclaimed, startling Baljeet. Shaking his head again, he added. “”Y-you can’t touch it, Jeet. It… it’s not safe.”

“What the heck does that mean???” Buford wondered. “It’s just a stupid rock.”   
“No, it isn’t… I-I mean, y-yes it is, but you see—”

“Just one peek, Phineas?” Baljeet begged. “I promise to give it back, really. And I will be very gentle—”

Phineas took several steps back, holding the stone against his chest. “You can’t, Baljeet,” he repeated nervously.

Buford was clearly becoming more and more annoyed; Baljeet seemed confused and a little hurt; Annie was becoming increasingly distraught, twirling her hair faster and faster.

Isabella held out her hand to her best friend. “Phineas, what’s wrong with us touching the stone? It won’t hurt is, right?”

Phineas stared at her in silence, biting his lip.

“Buford, no!”

A giant hand reached out and snatched the stone from over Phineas’ shoulder. The redhead gasped and turned around while Annie called out again. “Buford, don’t! Give it back!” She had stopped twirling her hair, and her hands were now clenched into fists at her sides and she appeared on the verge of tears, but she seemed to hesitate coming to help.   
Buford ignored her. “If it’s just a dumb ol’ rock, then I say pass it around,” Buford held up the shimmering stone.

“Buford, no!” Phineas exclaimed, reaching out for the rock. “Give it back now!”

Buford held out a hand and placed it against Phineas’ head, pushing him backwards to the floor. “Doesn’t feel like any rock I’ve ever held,” he muttered, holding the stone up to the light. He attempted to shake it. “Looks more like a glowing piece of glass…”

“Lemme see, I want a turn!” Baljeet exclaimed, running over and grabbing the stone. Buford snatched it back, and the two began to tussle over whose turn it was to hold the stone.

“Guys, give Phineas back his stone!” Isabella shouted, running over and attempting to pull the item away.

Ferb stood to the side, wondering what he should do, when Phineas gasped in horror and rose to his feet. “DON’T!!” he shouted frantically. “DON’T TOUCH IT ALL AT ONCE!!!”

“Lemme see it!” Baljeet complained.

“You got your turn!” Buford snapped.   
“Guys, just give him back the stupid rock!” Isabella shouted.

Phineas pulled on his hair and dashed over, accompanied by Ferb. The two of them attempted to break the others up and take back the stone. “Let it go! LET IT GO!!!” Phineas screamed. “Don’t touch the stone all at once! Please give it back!! LET IT GOOOOO!!!”

“Phineas, no!” Annie shouted, finally running and joining the fray. “Phineas, wait!”

Ferb felt the smooth surface of the stone and, for some reason, felt obliged to keep it in contact.

“LET THE STONE GOOOOO!!!” Phineas screamed once more before his hand rested on the stone as well.

“PHINEAS, WAIT!” Annie yelled, trying to pull Phineas’ hand away. As she did, her own hand brushed against the stone.

As everyone’s hands came in contact with it, the stone began to hum and glow brighter and brighter.

“What the heck is it doing?!” Buford exclaimed as he shielded his face.

“Let it go now!” Phineas cried. “Guys, you’ve got to let it—”

The stone flashed brightly, and the teenagers shouted in surprise and shielded their eyes.

When the light had cleared, school binders, books, bags, and Ferb’s sunglasses fell in a scattered mess on the floor, their owners having vanished without a trace.


	7. Chapter 6

It was over a barren land of grey that the light finally dimmed. When they uncovered their eyes, Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, Baljeet, Buford, and Annie were all floating several feet above the ground. Once the stone had dimmed, they dropped like rocks, shouting in surprise.

Buford was the first to land—directly on his stomach—in what appeared to be a hill of ashes and dust.

Baljeet and Isabella landed on top of him, bouncing off in different directions and rolling across the ash-covered ground.

Phineas and Ferb managed to fall on their behinds before sliding halfway down the large hill on their backs. The stone tumbled straight behind the redheaded teenager.

Annie, having already let go of Phineas’ wrist when the light had first dimmed, just barely missed landing on him as she fell and rolled down the hill.

Several moments of silence passed before the teenagers began to moan in pain, rubbing their rumps or other pained areas.

Baljeet was the first to raise his head. While Phineas and Annie coughed out a bunch of dust, the Hindi student looked about while raising the upper half of his body. “Uh, where did the school go?”

Isabella was the next to sit up. “Is everyone alright?” she called out.

“Sure,” Buford groaned, turning onto his back. “If by alright you mean dropped out of the sky into a pile of dead stuff, damaging our tailbones and pride, then yeah, I’m good.”

Ferb was the next to sit up. Raising himself off of his back, he began looking at his surroundings.

The teenagers were sitting in the middle of a barren wasteland. Nothing was alive for miles. The clouds above were dark and ominous, matching the dead ground beneath them, which was covered in ashes and dust, broken only by a few dead trees and stumps that littered the hilly field.

The green-haired teenager pulled himself to his feet and walked over to help Phineas and Annie to their feet. Phineas brushed some dust off of his orange hoodie, and Annie coughed some more and rubbed her head where the stone had bumped her as it tumbled down the hill.

“Is everyone seeing what I am seeing?” Baljeet asked nervously. “Because all I am seeing is bleak and lifeless scenery.”   
“You’re not dreaming,” Isabella reassured him. “Unless we’re all having the same dream.”   
Ferb brushed some ashes out of his green hair while Buford scratched his head. “What kind of rock was that?!” the football player wondered.

Phineas groaned as he rubbed a sore spot on his back. “It wasn’t an ordinary stone, Buford,” he explained. “It was a teleporter.”

“A what?”

“You mean you invented that thing?” Baljeet exclaimed, pointing at the stone near his friend.

Phineas groaned again, this time out of irritation. “No, Baljeet, I didn’t invent it. It’s way too advanced for me.”

“Then how did you know—”   
“Who cares how I knew; bottom line, I told you guys not to touch it all at once, and you did just that!”

He looked at Ferb and pointed at him. “That’s why I was avoiding you all morning! Your curiosity is as bad as mine, but if you had touched it at the same time I did, we would have all been sent here!”

Phineas picked up the stone and stuffed it into his pocket. “Why did I have to go and be so stupid???”

Ferb raised his eyebrows in revelation, while Annie flinched and hugged herself. She looked around as she avoided everyone’s gaze and tried to hold back tears.

Isabella cleared her throat. “Then, where’s here, Phineas?” she asked meekly.

Phineas looked at her in silence, his frown having already disappeared, and sighed heavily before starting to climb back up the hill. “Follow me,” he said. “I’ll show you.”

Without another word, the other teenagers did as they were told.

The climb did not take long; within a few minutes, Phineas had reached the top. There, he could feel a weak breeze blow by, both welcoming and chilling. He stared at the landscape before him as the others joined. Taking a deep breath, he gestured to the valley below. “This is here.”

At the bottom of the small valley sat a large city, filled with buildings that seemed to date all the way back to the medieval age. There was a large fort-like building at the very center, the light from whose windows looked like dancing flames from afar. There was a river that flowed to a bay nearby, and unlike the barren wasteland on the other side of the hill, this place, stretching all the way to the mountains, forests, hills, and fields in the distance—and perhaps even farther—was filled with colors and life. Hardly a shade of grey was to be found. Even that side of the hill, though rocky and uneven, was covered in patches of dark green grass. The only thing that remained the same was the dark clouds overhead.

Annie’s eyes widened as she gasped.

“What… in the world?” Ferb whispered in bewilderment.

“This isn’t Danville,” Isabella added worriedly. “This… this isn’t anything like home.”

“But it still…” Buford began, “Kinda looks familiar…”

While Baljeet and Isabella looked at him curiously, Phineas raised his head, the wind making his hair flutter. “It should look familiar,” he said, catching their attention. “This is the City of Colornia, the Cultural Trades city by Unsung Bay…”

As he spoke, the others stared at him in both revelation and disbelief. “You mean…” Buford looked over the city again. “You mean we’re inside the game?!”   
“We’ve been transported into The Seer?!” Baljeet exclaimed in horror.

Phineas looked at them. “No,” he replied. “Just to another dimension.” He studied the city again. “That stone is similar to a dimensional teleporter. It appears in locations where the chosen host visits most often, and once they’ve touched the stone… they’re teleported. The one we touched happened to lead to this dimension, which as it turns out…” He paused before looking at his feet, almost in defeat. “... that video game is unknowingly based off of.”

“So, things that happen in the game… happen in real life here?” Baljeet guessed.

“... Sorta.”

Isabella grabbed onto Phineas’ sleeve—out of fear or in order to keep her balance, he didn’t know.

“Phineas, if that stone was found at your house, does that mean it was meant for you and Ferb?” she asked. “Or maybe all of us? Is that why we were all transported here?”

Phineas looked at her for a moment before looking up at the clouds as thunder groaned. “That sums it up,” he replied. “We…” He hesitated. “... We were chosen for a special mission.”

“What… what kind of mission?”

Lightning lit up the sky as the wind started to pick up. Phineas looked about for a moment before pulling his arm away from Isabella and grabbing his hood. “We need to go see someone,” he said. “He’ll be able to explain to you guys what we’re here for.”

“You sound as though you already know,” Buford noted.

Phineas fastened the hood securely over his head until even his eyes were nearly covered from view. “Maybe I do know, maybe I don’t, but whether I do or not, I’m not the one who should be telling you why we’re here. Now we should get going before rain starts falling down in buckets—”

Ferb leaned forward in order to see this brother more clearly. “Phineas,” he began, catching the sixteen-year-old’s attention, “... Why are you putting on your hood? It’s not like it will keep you any dryer than without.”

Phineas looked at him as he spoke and then turned his head away. “We should get going,” he repeated, beginning the descent down the steep hill.

“But Phineas—”

“You’ll… you’ll find out soon enough, Ferb. Now hurry up; with your clothes, you’ll catch pneumonia. Just follow me and make sure not to get lost.”

*****

By the time they had reached the city, night was nearing; though with the rain falling so thickly, it had seemed like night long before.

The group kept close together; in the rain, it was hard to see more than five feet ahead of oneself. Phineas lead them into the narrow streets of the medieval city, ignoring the chatter and laughter that floated around them from nearby pubs and residencies. Farmers were packing up their kiosks in the marketplace; beggars sat outside doors, asking for spare change or food; stray dogs and cats ran about. Even in the pouring rain, the city’s streets were filled with life.

Though Phineas refused to say anything, Ferb was more than certain his brother knew why the teenagers were here. What worried the green-haired teenager, though, was that it seemed that what Phineas knew frightened him. If he had been that desperate to keep everyone from touching the stone, then there must be a grave reason as to why they were all here.

Or, even more specifically, why  _ Phineas _ was here.

The redhead had been correct about one thing, though; Ferb was freezing now that the rain was falling. His clothes—vest, blouse, pants, and all—were soaked and wet; his green hair draped over his eyes; and his skin was as cold as ice. He had his arm around Annie, who was shivering in her t-shirt and jeans. She had given her sweatshirt to Baljeet, who had been shivering earlier, and she refused to take it back; Ferb, unable to do anything more, put his arm around the girl and hoped that they would reach their destination soon.

He hesitated to ask Phineas where that destination was; Phineas would only redirect the question or else ignore it completely.

_ He must be really scared _ , Ferb thought.  _ On any normal occasion, he wouldn’t hesitate to talk to me. _

Phineas was just as soaked as everyone else, but he seemed more preoccupied with his destination than with the weather. He brushed by people without looking up, though always saying “excuse me” or “sorry”.

People gave them odd looks—Ferb guessed it was because of the way they were dressed. Unlike everyone else, who was wearing something medieval-looking or something found in fantasy novels, the teenagers were still dressed in modern American clothes.

Finally, after walking for what seemed like hours, Phineas slipped around a final building and stared upwards. “We’re here,” he announced, catching everyone’s attention. He looked both ways before dashing across the wide street. “Come on, we need to get inside before a Snitch or a Watcher sees us.”

Ferb and Annie did as they were told, dashing after Phineas. Isabella was the next to cross, followed by Baljeet and Buford.

Looming above them was the giant castle-like tower they had seen from the hill. Up close, it looked ominous, built of dark stones and containing very few windows. It was tall and round, exactly like its counterpart in the game…

Counterpart… Ferb gasped as he realized where they were. “The Sage,” he whispered aloud.

“The who?” Baljeet wondered.

“The Sage; Phineas is taking us to see Sage Mortimer of Colornia.”

“You mean the dude that gives us missions in the video game?” Buford clarified. “What, did we just get sucked in here to play this whole darn thing or something?”   
Phineas slipped in some mud but quickly regained his footing. “You’ll find out when we get inside, Buford,” he replied, coming to a stop at the large doors. As the others slowed down as well, he walked over to one of the giant knockers and placed his hands around it. “Ferb, come gimme a hand, will you?” he asked.

Ferb slipped his arm from around Annie’s shoulders and helped Phineas raise the knocker. Slowly, they knocked it against the door thrice before letting it go and backing away. Ferb put his arm back around Annie as the knocks echoed loudly in the air around them and inside the tower.

The sound of rain falling hard was the only thing to breach the silence as the echoes died away. The teenagers waited. Isabella eventually walked over to Phineas and glued herself against him, and, hardly noticing what he was doing, he wrapped an arm around her while still watching the doors.

After what seemed to be ages to the six soaked teenagers, the sound of one of the doors opening reached their ears. With a low groan, the door Phineas and Ferb had knocked on began to swing backwards, opening just wide enough for someone Buford’s size to come in. Two hands appeared around the door and then out peeked the head of a young man with glowing blue hair and white skin.

“Is… is that a Light Elf?” Ferb whispered in his brother’s ear. He had a feeling that Phineas would know, considering he had learned how all the different characters looked in the game.

Phineas nodded his reply. “One from the North Country,” he whispered as the short, child-like creature walked into view. “They can’t grow any taller than a ten-year-old.”

The elf was wearing a very beautiful suit, complete with small boots. Its entire body, garments included, glowed dimly. It stared at the teenagers in silence, its giant green eyes studying the strangers from head to toe.

Phineas dug a hand into his pocket and pulled out the stone. It glowed brightly within his grasp, almost at the same strength as the elf’s body.

The elf stared at it with wide eyes and gasped in shock. It looked up at Phineas and gestured for him to come in. “Quickly, quickly, come in before they see you!” it whispered urgently, stepping back from the door to give room.

Phineas tucked the stone away and followed the creature inside, the redhead’s arm still around Isabella, who was holding tightly to her best friend’s hoodie. Ferb and Annie followed, and Baljeet and Buford slipped in last.

The warmth within those walls was a greeting all six adolescents were glad to receive. Phineas finally removed his hood, and the others wrung the water out of their clothes and hair. All of them stared at the architecture around them.

The tower’s insides seemed to have been built in Gothic style, and the paint used gave it the illusion of being built in gold. Pillars and Doric columns surrounded them in a perfect circle. A giant diamond-decorated chandelier hung above their heads. A set of giant stairs, like ones found in palaces, traveled up the tower in a spiral to the different levels. The marble floor was filled with designs that seemed to shape a map of some sort. Words written in a tongue the teenagers could not understand were placed here and there in a neat manner as well.

The one thing that seemed to catch the eye the most, though, was the chandelier. Despite it hanging directly overhead, it was doing so… without any suspension. There was no rope holding it in place, and there wasn’t even any metalwork to hold the diamond lights together. It seemed that each light was simply floating in its own little spot, entirely on its own.

Phineas stared at the chandelier, almost as though in a trance, until a hand reached out and tugged on his wet sleeve. When he looked down, he found the elf looking up at him.

“He has been waiting for you; you must come now,” the elf insisted.

“We having a banquet or something?” Buford joked.

Phineas looked at him for a moment before the elf began to lead him to the center of the room. There, the creature instructed him to stand on a circular design in the floor. Then it beckoned for the others to come do the same. Once all six were standing together, the elf pulled out a thick cloth and held out its hands to Phineas.

Phineas blinked before digging into his pocket and pulling the stone out. The elf grabbed the stone with the cloth and squatted to the ground. Here, he placed the stone in an indent on the floor. It slid in with ease, as though it was meant to fit there.

The stone began to glow brightly, sending rays of light shooting across the floor. Just as everyone was wondering how this was possible, the design they were all standing on groaned and began to float upwards, nearly tossing Baljeet off of it in the sudden movement.

“Where’s it taking us now?” Buford wondered.

Ferb caught Phineas when his brother stumbled backwards and then looked up at the diamond chandelier. The pieces of light spread out, revealing a hidden vertical tunnel entrance in the ceiling. It was alit with the same light as the stone.

“The Sage’s study is at the top of the tower,” Ferb reminded him. “We had to have our characters ride a floating device up to it as well, remember?”   
“But I do not remember it looking this complex,” Baljeet added as they entered the tunnel and began climbing faster and faster.

They all looked up as the air shot past them. When Ferb looked at Phineas, he noticed familiar sparks of wonder in his dark blue eyes. Though he saw the fear that was still present in them, he was comforted to know that his brother had not completely lost his sense of wonder.

He turned to look at Annie. Like the others, she was staring up in wonder, but to his surprise, her grey eyes were rimmed with red. He remembered that she had been sniffling at times on the way to the tower, but he had thought it was from the cold. Could she have been crying? Shame pricked at Ferb as he realized what he had missed before. He put his arm around her again, and she pulled her gaze away from the tunnel to look at him. She seemed to be able to read his expression, because she smiled and whispered, “It’s okay, Ferb.” Though he wasn’t totally convinced, he smiled back and they both turned to look up at the tunnel again.

“If this wasn’t making me feel any weirder than before, I’d probably be enjoying this more,” Isabella whispered fearfully.

Phineas was about to put a comforting arm around her when their ride came to a sudden halt and all six teenagers were sent tumbling to the ground in shouts of surprise. Only the elf remained on its feet.

“Sheesh, could we at least have a bit of a warning?” Buford complained as he pushed Baljeet off of him.

Ignoring them, the elf rushed off towards a fireplace that was presently glowing with orange flames. Here, the creature bowed to empty air. “They have arrived, Sir,” he announced politely. “I brought them up, just as you instructed me to.”

“Good… good,” came a reply. The voice sounded distant and it echoed in the air as though it were in a cave.

A bit of a breeze picked up, and, right before the students’ eyes, a tall man faded into view. Sparkles of blue light swirled around him until he was completely tangible. His back was to the teenagers, but by the beautiful garments he wore, the edges of which were glowing softly, one could tell he was a Sage.

Or, at least, Phineas and Ferb were able to tell.

“Who the hey is that?” Buford whispered.

The Flynn-Fletcher brothers looked at him. “The Sage of Colornia,” Phineas replied.

“How do you know?”

“See his clothes? How they’re glowing like that at the seams? Only the wisest who have mastered good magic and philosophy are allowed to wear clothes like that. Since a Sage is the highest ranking of Good Magic Possessor in the game, this is him.”

The teenagers looked back up at the man as he turned around. “Ah,” the football player replied. “Okay.”

The man finally came face-to-face with them, and they were able to recognize many of the traits he shared with his counterpart in the video game; however, his dark grey eyes seemed much wiser, and his greyish-blue beard glowed dimly. The light it projected reflected a little off of the round spectacles he wore.

The Sage studied the newcomers in silence before his eyes fell upon Phineas. Although he had expected this, the teenager was immediately intimidated and he blushed. He looked away quickly.

“So, you have finally come,” the man’s deep voice noted while he closed the book he had in his hand.

Phineas cleared his throat but did not look up. “N-not on my own terms, but yes,” he replied meekly.

“If it had not been on your own terms, Phineas Flynn, you would not have willingly reached out and touched the Stone.” The Sage let the book go and it floated down into the hands of the elf. “That is the funny thing about curiosity; it lands you in situations your mind despises but your heart desires.”

Although Phineas seemed to be trying to ignore every word the man said, Ferb was soaking it all in; his own curiosity was beginning to set off alarms in his head. As the Sage began walking towards them, Ferb took a step forward and instinctively got in front of his stepbrother, as though shielding him from a blow.

The Sage stopped at this and studied Ferb from head to toe. After a moment, he cracked a small grin.

“You must be Ferb Fletcher,” he said. “The stepbrother.”

“How do you know that?” Ferb wondered, although he did so with a hint of dryness in his voice.

“You will come to understand that I know much, young Knight, and that most of that information is better left unanswered.”   
Ferb frowned. “Then, may we at least have an explanation as to why we are all here?”

The Sage raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at Phineas. “You did not tell him?” he wondered.

Phineas did not look up again; instead, he seemed to relish the fact that Ferb was shielding him, and hid even more behind his brother. “I didn’t want him to be a part of it,” he squeaked.

“He was supposed to share it.”

“... I didn’t want him to have to.”

The Sage looked at Phineas in silence for a moment before Isabella took a step forward.

“Getting back to Ferb’s question, Sir,” she said as politely as she could, “Could you tell us what mission we’ve apparently been chosen for? Phineas mentioned something like that when we were teleported here…”

The Sage raised his head. “Ah, yes,” he said. “The mission…” He clapped his hands twice and, immediately, all the lights, including the fire, were put out, casting the entire study into darkness. Then, having no origins, blue lights began to flutter about, shaping a giant 3D map of what everyone recognized as the world of Cantoria.

The world in which the video game took place.

“You have been chosen to embark on a mission of grave importance,” the Sage explained. “The Dark Sorcerer is grown stronger every day, and with every passing moment, our world is crumbling. Good is being forced more and more to the East, towards us, and further away from the Labyrinth we, the Sages, were sworn to protect. The life force of Cantoria is waning with every drop of evil added, and the more we wait and linger, the more the Dark Sorcerer is prevailing and becoming stronger.

“Many have attempted and failed to reach the Center of the the Labyrinth in order to replenish its power. So I have been given the task of finding the souls brave enough to take the journey and reach the Center of the Labyrinth. The Seer must reach it in order to defeat the Dark Sorcerer—”

“Ah-HA!” Buford exclaimed, catching everyone’s attention. “I knew this was the game! We were transported into the actual game!”

The Sage frowned at these words. “This may be another dimension from your own, Buford Van Stomm,” he said gravely, “But I can assure you… this is no game.”

His voice seemed to echo in the darkness around them, causing even Buford to cower slightly.

“I have the power to pull people from their reality and bring them into this one,” the Sage explained. “Whatever game you are referring to does not exist here. This is real. This is all happening as we speak. The more time we let slip by, the more powerful the Dark Sorcerer becomes. I searched for many years before stumbling upon your dimension and finding you.”

“So, you’ve been spying on us?” Isabella clarified.

“Hardly. More or less, I’ve been studying your personalities, really. And I am content to say that you are fit for the challenge.” The Sage rubbed his chin for a moment. “... A little on the young side, I’ll admit, but fit nonetheless.”

“So, what is it that we must do?” Baljeet wondered.

The Sage held out his arms to the map around them, and it began to move forward as though they were traveling over it like eagles. “Your task is to accompany the Seer and make sure he arrives at the Center of the Labyrinth unharmed. That is your first priority.”

“So, the Seer actually exists…”

“In this realm, yes. They are incredibly scarce, since only the purest of souls have the power to save Cantoria. In fact, often, only one comes from each dimension every three hundred years of their time. Most go unnoticed, for a Seer’s magic isn’t needed anywhere except here.”   
Ferb rubbed his chin. “Is this the first time you have called upon a Seer?” he asked.

The Sage shook his head. “No,” he replied. “I have called upon many in the past, but all have failed, only increasing the Dark Sorcerer’s power. I fear that if I do not accomplish my duty correctly this time, our world will crumble for good.”

Isabella looked at the others, as though silently contemplating the matter and discussing it with them.

After a moment, she grinned and turned to face the Sage. “Well, considering we’re now stuck here, I guess we’ve got no choice but to go along for the ride,” she said boldly. “I’ve seen a lot of crazy things in my life, so I think I’m ready to add something unbelievable to my book.”

“I’m all good, as long as I can do a bit of pounding,” Buford added.

Baljeet raised his hand. “Question, Mr. Sage, Sir,” he said meekly. “Um, how many lives to do we have here?”

The Sage raised an eyebrow. “How many do you have in your dimension?” he asked.

“Um, just one.”

“Then, unless you can reincarnate yourself like a phoenix, you only have one here as well. So I would suggest you don’t kill yourself through stupidity.”

Baljeet swallowed with great difficulty and went a little pale. “Uh, okay,” he squeaked. Raising a fist in the air, he added, “Yahoo,” very unenthusiastically.

“Will we be sent home once our mission is completed?” Isabella asked.

The Sage looked at her and nodded. “If you accomplish the task, then yes, you will all be transported back home.” He held out his hand, and the small elf, who had gone to pick up the stone from its place in the floor, again with the cloth, handed it to him, cloth and all. He held it up. “You will not be forced to remain here unless you sincerely wish to.”

Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford nodded their agreement and looked at each other before staring at the Sage. Ferb and Annie hesitated, looking at Phineas. The redhead seemed incredibly disappointed that the others were agreeing. But the Sage interrupted their thoughts. “And, I imagine that you, Ferb, will stay with your brother?”

Ferb looked back at the Sage with some surprise. “Well, yes, of course…”

The Sage ignored the teenager’s questioning look. “Well, then, now that I have your agreement, I might as well give you the roles in which you will be playing.” He pushed his spectacles back up on his nose. “I have assigned you each with a position that I believe best suits your personalities; along the way, you will have a chance to learn new attacks, both offense and defense, and you will meet those who form the Seven Guides, who will personally train you. For now, I will give you your tasks, you will be given appropriate clothing, and tomorrow morning, when your journey begins, you will be given your first destination.”

He pointed at Isabella. “You, my dear, are the Archer,” he said. “Your courage and fierce heart will give you an advantage over your enemies. You will be supplied with your bow and arrows. If you are seen fit, you may be able to acquire better arrows along the way; if you can find the Golden Arrow, then you would have mastered your skills.”

Isabella smiled brightly and held up her fists. “Sweet!” she exclaimed. Then, quickly remembering where she was, she cleared her throat and bowed politely. “I mean, I will do my best, Sir.”

The Sage pointed at Baljeet next. “You have been appointed the role of Rope Maker,” he announced.

Buford had to stifle a laugh. Baljeet moaned. “Aaawwwww, are you serious?” he said in despair. “But that is the same role I played in the game! I cannot stand being a Rope Maker! They do not do anything heroic!”

“Heroism comes in all shapes and sizes, Baljeet,” the Sage replied. “And your skills at making ropes will be needed on this journey, as you will not only be traveling across fields and plains.”

As Baljeet pouted and crossed his arms, the old man pointed to Buford. “You will be—”

“Lemme guess!” Buford said excitedly while flexing his arms. “A Knight, right? ‘Cause I’ve got the strength!”

The Sage rolled his eyes. “You may have the strength, but you do not possess the knowledge or loyalty of a Knight,” he said flatly. “That role has been reserved for another. You are more fitting as a Ranger. It is your job to be a look out, as well as an extra aid in battle. Because of your strength, you can raise heavy weaponry.”

While Baljeet and Isabella giggled behind their hands, Buford grimaced for a moment before he shrugged. “Meh, I guess that’s alright,” he muttered. “Better than a dorky Squire or Scout.”

“Your roles each have equal importance, so do not underestimate yourselves or your companions,” the Sage warned. He looked at Ferb, but before saying anything, he frowned softly. “You were initially given another role, but since you lack a certain trait, I had to reassign you to one that was just as fitting.” He pointed at the teenager and a sea of green and blue lights faded into view, swirling around Ferb’s body and forming a transparent suit that resembled the Knight’s in the game. “You, Ferb Fletcher, have been assigned as the Knight,” the Sage announced. “Your intelligence, skills, courage, and ability to quickly construct and think plans through will be vital as, in this role, you will be the leader and protector of the Brotherhood. Many battles await you, and you will often be forced to fight them head on without thinking. If you fail in your task as protector of the Brotherhood, then everyone will perish. It is the Knight who must protect the Seer at all costs.”

Ferb looked at the fake armour around him before it disappeared, then looked up at the Sage.

“Do you accept this role, despite it carrying a heavier load on your shoulders than the others?”

Although Ferb would rather spend his time reading a book than swinging a sword, the teenager nodded. The Sage nodded as well before walking off a few steps. The study returned to normal and the map disappeared. The Sage spoke over his shoulder as he continued to walk toward the fire, which had been rekindled. “Annabelle, I’m afraid I have not yet found your role. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d ask you to please stay here while the others go to receive their clothing, so that I can figure out what your assignment will be. The rest of you are free to go now; Edwin will show you to your chambers to get dressed, and then you are all invited to dine downstairs. You must all be famished by now…”

“W-wait a minute,” Isabella spoke up. She pointed at her best friend. “You didn’t give Phineas his role.”

The Sage raised his head and turned around again, surprise in his eyes.

“I mean, considering he’s the one who found your teleporter, shouldn’t he be getting a role too?”

The old man looked at her in silence before turning his gaze on the redheaded sixteen-year-old. “You never told them even this?” he asked.

Phineas stared at him in silence before looking away again. Weakly, he shook his head.

The Sage did not seem incredibly pleased to hear this, but he did not show his disappointment for long. “I suppose that it would make sense, since you didn’t tell them anything else, either.” The Sage sighed and addressed Isabella again. “Well, then I guess I should appoint a role to him then. Or, more specifically, tell you what it is, since he has not done so himself.”

“Does he get to be a Mage?” Baljeet asked eagerly. “He plays that role all the time in the game at home. He is incredibly skilled!”

The Sage shook his head. “Mages do not usually embark on such adventures; most stay and study magic in order to become Sages one day… or Warlocks, if they decide to use their knowledge for evil. No, Phineas has been assigned a different role.” The Sage paused for a moment, looking at Phineas. The redhead raised his head again and looked back up at him in silence. The man could see the reluctance and fear in his eyes, but the choice had been decided; there was no turning back. So he held up the stone, and it began to hum and shine brightly, its light contrasting against the dark green cloth it sat in.

Phineas gasped softly and fixed his gaze upon the stone. As though in a trance, he held out both hands.

The Sage let the stone go and it began to float in midair as rays of blue, pink, and purple light swam out of it and haloed around the sixteen-year-old.

Ferb almost felt obliged to step out and pull his brother away; he had no idea what was happening, but he did not like it, especially after the light cast from the stone surrounded Phineas. Ferb noticed that even his brother’s blue eyes seemed to glow as though filled with the same light that was currently haloing him.

After a moment, the stone landed softly in Phineas’ outstretched hands and the lights faded away, the stone dimmed, and Phineas’ eyes returned to normal. By the look of ever growing fear on his face, Ferb could tell that Phineas was not pleased with the role he had apparently been given.

In hopes of clarification, Ferb, Isabella, Baljeet, Buford, and Annie looked up at the Sage.

The man raised his head as he continued to stare at Phineas. “He is the Seer,” he whispered solemnly


	8. Chapter 7

The Seer.

“Phineas is the Seer?”

It had been nearly half an hour since Edwin the Light Elf had taken the sixteen-year-olds into the giant chamber where they would spend the night. Like most of the tower, the walls were paved in gold and red paint, and there were three king-sized beds aligned against the wall. Three windows overlooked the city below.

Buford was sitting on a chair next to one of the windows, balancing on its back legs while folding his arms behind his head. He yawned loudly. “I told him he’d make a good Seer,” he muttered, responding to Isabella’s exclamation. He had been the first to get dressed once the elf had returned with their new uniforms. He was dressed in a mail tunic, complete with thick brown leather padding over his chest, shoulders, thighs, and knees. He had also been given fingerless gloves, crested in gold, along with matching boots and a green cloak. He was not expected to wear it to sleep, but was obliged to wear it to the banquet that evening.

Buford had also been given a special axe to carry on the journey. To anyone else, it weighed a ton, but because he did several weights every day and played football, he was able to lift it with hardly a sweat.

“Did you see the look on Ferb’s face when we were told?” Isabella added. “He looked like he had just seen a ghost or something.”

Buford shrugged. “So he did,” he said with a yawn. “Though, if you ask me, it looked more like he had just seen his bro get murdered in front of him.”

“Buford, that was really inappropriate.”

“But true. He seriously looked freaked, man.”

“So did Annie,” Baljeet added. “And I didn’t think she could get more pale after walking through all that rain.” He was sitting on one of the beds, fumbling around with his own uniform. He kicked a leg in the air while groaning. “Ugh! Why do Rope Makers have to dress up in such baggy clothes?” he complained. “I look like a monk!”

“Because monks are often Rope Makers, Nerd,” Buford snickered, watching his friend attempt to straighten his dark red hood. Baljeet’s uniform consisted of a loose sweater-like shirt, matching pants, and matching boots, which were fastened to his legs by laces. Had he had the hood over his head at the moment, he would have looked exactly like a monk.

He had also been given a few tools for the journey: some rope-making utensils—which included a small dagger—and a light sword in case he was called into battle.

Buford got a kick out of that. “I can’t believe Mortimer the Sage gave you a stupid sword,” he teased. “I bet you can’t even lift it.”

“Can so!” Baljeet sniffed. “Besides, he only said it was in case of an emergency, so it isn’t really supposed to be a good one.”

“Fine, whatever. Just make sure to warn me before you swing it.”

Isabella, who had hidden herself behind a giant changing board while she stripped off her wet clothes and put on her new set of garments, tossed out her shoes and grabbed a pair of green leather boots sitting just in view of the boys. “Let’s just hope we won’t need to fight that often,” she said. “Considering we’ve played this game a lot, though, I’m sure we’d do just fine anyway.”

“Knock on wood, knock on wooooddd!!!” Buford exclaimed as he rapped his knuckles against a desk; Baljeet, caught by surprise, quickly did the same to the bed post. “You’re gonna jinx us, Isabella!”

“Oh, please, are you seriously that superstitious?”

“After hanging out with Phineas and Ferb? Heck yeah. Especially Phineas. Every time Dinner Bell says something like that, something ends up going wrong. Like when we traveled around the world in one day. Seriously, that kid doesn’t knock on wood enough.”

“Because Phineas isn’t superstitious.”

Baljeet leaned on top of the sword he had been given. “Where are Phineas and Ferb, anyway?” he wondered. “And Annie?”

Isabella tossed out the rest of her clothes and walked out from behind the boards while pushing back her long black hair. “Annie had to stay with Sage Mortimer, and Phineas and Ferb had to go get their uniforms with Edwin, remember? Ferb had to go to the armoury, apparently, and Phineas… well, they never said where he had to go.”

“The Seer stuff is top secret here,” Buford noted. “They really take this whole thing seriously.”

Isabella picked up the blue and silver bow she had been given and held it over her shoulder while leaning on one leg. “So, how do I look?” she grinned. Like Buford, Isabella wore a mail shirt. Along with her green boots, she sported a dark red skirt, a leather belt with a red ruby on the buckle, a green cloak, and green and brown sleeves. If it had been on any other girl, Buford would have laughed, but the tomboy-like outfit suited Isabella perfectly.

Baljeet grinned and gave her a thumbs-up while Buford shrugged. “Pretty nifty, I’ll admit,” he conceded. “But can you shoot?”

“My uncle owns an archery practice field on his land in Mexico,” Isabella replied. “He let me practice whenever we went to visit him.” She set the bow aside and placed her hands on her hips. “So… is anyone other than me still thinking this is some kind of dream?”

Baljeet raised his hand like a school boy. Buford nodded. “Yep, I’m still trying to decide whether to pinch myself or not. If I don’t, I’m stuck in this medieval-fantasy world with no way home, but on the plus side, I’ve got no school.”

“This could just be one of those dimensions that time passes by faster than in ours,” Baljeet pointed out. “You know, like one minute on Earth is like a week here or something.”

“You know, if you just stuffed it, maybe people wouldn’t call you a party pooper.”

Isabella rolled her eyes and studied the room. “I just hope our parents aren’t wondering where we are,” she said. “My mom would be worrying her head off by now.” She looked at Buford again. “It just seems so unreal. That the video game we’ve been playing for the past week or so just so happens to be based off of an actual dimension and events. And the creators don’t even know. I mean, think about it.”

“No, you know what I still find unbelievable?” Buford complained. “That Dinner Bell decided to keep this whole thing a dang secret from us.”

“What does Phineas have to do with it?” Baljeet wondered.

“Everything, duh. I mean, this whole time, he knew he was the Seer, but he never even told us! Can you believe that?”

Isabella frowned. “Buford, considering Phineas hates drawing attention to himself, I think he had a right not to tell us.”

Buford rolled his eyes and muttered something inaudible before setting his chair down properly and standing up. “Where are those dweebs, anyway?” he groaned. “If we’re invited to some stupid banquet, I want to get first dibs! I’m starving, for cryin’ out loud! If anyone can remember, that stupid rock teleported us here right before lunch!”

Just as he spoke, the doors to the bedroom moaned softly as they were pushed open. Baljeet and Buford looked up in curiosity; Isabella turned around and raised her eyebrows. “Oh, wow,” she breathed.

Ferb walked in, completely in tunic and armour. Save for the upper part of his black pants, dark sleeves, leather gloves, and dark boots, the teenager was covered in beautiful silver armour. From his shoulders to his waist, his knees to his ankles, silver metal with gold edges fit snug against his body, though loose enough for battle. Over each of his shoulder plates was a light pink pearl.

But what made Ferb look even more impressive was the beautiful sword that hung in its sheath at his side. The blue and gold handle had enough space for two hands to grab it, and at its tip sat a white diamond, sharp enough to leave a mark in battle.

“Holy-cow-call-me-insane,” Buford gawked.

Ferb grinned.

“They turned you into King Arthur, Dude! What, are they trying keep you here or something?”

Ferb placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. “Hardly,” he replied. “Though the sword is a nice touch.”

“What did the armoury look like?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t actually go in it. I was only allowed in the shop part to get measured for the armour.”

“That stinks.”

Isabella walked up to Ferb as the boys spoke. “It’s beautiful,” she muttered, walking around him and staring at the armour. She stopped by his chest and knocked against it. “Sounds tough.”

“According to the blacksmith, it’s covered in a coat of diamond iron,” Ferb replied.

“Diamond what?”

“It’s a metal here. The Dwarves forge it. It’s the strongest metal in Cantoria.”

“Gee whiz, they gave you the best of the best.”

Ferb shrugged and looked down at his sword. “Probably because… it’s my duty to protect the Seer…”

The sentence sounded awkward not only to him, but to the others as well. To divert their attention from it, Ferb grabbed his sword and pulled it out quickly, holding it up before him.

“Oooooohh, woooowww!” Baljeet said in awe.

“That sword looks brand new!” Buford exclaimed.

Ferb swung the sword weakly and held it up a little higher in order to study it. “They were putting it together while I was measured and clothed. Apparently, it’s a tradition to give every Knight a new sword when beginning this sort of quest.”

“Did they name it?”

Ferb, Isabella, and Baljeet gave Buford a confused look.

“Well, you know, in most books and movies, the swords have names,” Buford added with a shrug.

Ferb rolled his eyes. “Sword,” he said, lowering the weapon. “I called it Sword.”

Buford shot him a glare. “Hardee har har,” he mumbled, making Baljeet giggle.

Ferb grinned back before swinging the sword with both hands, trying to imitate the Knight he played in the video game. “It’s light, which is perfect for swift movement,” he commented. “But I’ve never really battled with a sword before.”

“You’ve fenced, haven’t you?” Isabella pointed out.

“Yes… but that’s not exactly the same. A sword is much larger and can do much more damage. If I do not learn how to manoeuvre it properly, I could cut someone’s head off.”

“Eeee, then you stay away from me in battle, too!” Buford exclaimed, wrapping his arms around his head. “I don’t want to have a monk and a tin man slicing my body to bits, thank you very much!”

“I am not a monk!” Baljeet cried out.

“Oh yeah, and a Rope Maker is a big difference?”

Once the two had finished arguing, Isabella sighed and crossed her arms. “You know what I just realized, guys?” she asked, catching their attention. “We’ve all seen each other’s outfits on our players in the game, but we’ve never actually seen what the Seer wears.”

Baljeet gasped as Ferb and Buford looked on in revelation. “That is right! The Seer always had a cloak on because it shielded his identity from everyone. Apparently, because they are so rare, Seers wear a different material.” He looked at Ferb. “And they have their hoods on most of the time because it shields their faces from Snitches, Warlocks, and Watchers.”

Isabella shrugged. “I wonder what Phineas’ outfit will look like? I wonder… what a Seer is supposed to wear?”

The other three boys pondered this as well, but hardly a moment had gone by for them to think when a voice caught their attention: “Apparently, I’m supposed to wear this.”

Buford and Baljeet raised their heads and looked over Ferb and Isabella’s shoulders while the two turned around. All four pairs of eyes widened and all four jaws dropped in amazement.

Phineas walked towards them, dressed in a beautiful blue uniform. The material glistened in the light like newly brushed silk. Its edges, like the robe of the Sage, glowed as if the uniform was sewn from blue light. Both the pants and the shirt matched, with a slight difference in the shades of blue. On his feet was a pair of white boots with blue stripes and silver buckles. Around his neck, now attached to a silver chain, was the very same stone which had transported them to this dimension.

“Holy Toledo,” Buford gaped.

Phineas stopped next to his brother, and to everyone’s surprise, he was smiling his usual cheerful smile. After looking at the other’s outfits, he remarked, “I guess I win the Who’s Wearing the Best Cosplay Costume contest, huh?”

“That uniform is the most beautiful uniform I have ever seen in my life!” Baljeet cried out.

“Thanks, Jeet,” Phineas said gratefully. He held up an arm and studied it while turning it over. “I personally like orange a lot better, but blue’s good, too. Isn’t as sharp, you know?”

“Is that the same stone that brought us here?”

“Yep. Apparently, it’s also the Seer Stone. That’s why I was the one who found it.”

As he spoke, Isabella walked up to him and looked at the beautiful material. Reaching out, she placed a hand over Phineas’ arm and stroked the material. Phineas stopped speaking and looked at her.

“It’s… so soft,” she whispered. She raised her other hand and stroked with it as well. “And smooth… And beautiful, like it was sewn from light…” After a moment, she realized that Phineas was staring at her, and she pulled her hands away and placed them neatly behind her back. She stared at hers and Phineas’ feet while blushing. “You look… very handsome, Phineas,” she added.

Phineas looked at her with gentle eyes before grinning in appreciation. “Thanks, Isabella,” he added just as softly. “You… you look pretty good in your uniform, too.”

They locked gazes for only a moment before Buford interrupted: “So, you’re the dude we have to protect, huh?”

Phineas looked at him but said nothing.

“I told you you’d make a good Seer.”

Phineas sighed and looked away. “I’d rather not talk about that right now, okay?” He looked back up at his friends and grinned. “But you wanna know what I think is pretty sweet? The fact that you guys are all dressed as the characters you played in the game. I mean, how cool is that?”

“I am a Rope Maker,” Baljeet complained, making Isabella giggle. “That is not special.”

“Come on, Jeet, you heard what the Sage said: heroism comes in all shapes and sizes. And I think he’s right. You can be a hero no matter what role you’re given.”

The Indian teenager shrugged, but smiled timidly, thanking Phineas for his encouraging words. Phineas nodded in reply before looking at his stepbrother. “Whoa, King Arthur all over,” he said, as though noticing Ferb’s armour for the first time. He walked around his best friend while whistling. “Dude, you look awesome! Way better than what your Knight wears in the video game, Man!” He leaned back and rubbed his chin, studying his brother. “Totally bodyguard material, too.”

Ferb forced up a smirk while the others giggled; he had noticed, unlike the others, Phineas’ fake smile. He knew Phineas hated being upset for too long, but he could tell by the look in his brother’s eyes that the grin the redhead wore was forced.

Phineas looked Ferb over a little longer before his eyes fell upon the sword. “Oo, he comes complete with a blade, too,” he said in awe. He held out his hands. “May I?”

Ferb handed him the sword and only let go once he knew Phineas had a good grasp on it with both hands. But no sooner had he let go did Phineas yelp in surprise as the sword dropped to the floor, nearly dragging him with it. The tip of the blade landed with a clang on the floor.

Buford threw his head back and laughed as loud as he could while the other three covered their mouths and attempted to keep their shoulders from shaking. “Oh-ho, that’s rich!” the football player laughed. “That’s even more pathetic than Baljeet with a sword! HA HA HA!!!”

Phineas groaned while looking up and grinning wryly. “Gee, thanks.” He tried to hold it up again on his own. “Holy crow, I didn’t think it would be this heavy,” he groaned, finally holding up the sword with a great amount of difficulty. “Why is it so hard to lift this thing?”

Ferb chuckled. “That’s what you get for being the Thinker half of the duo.”

“Oh come off it, I build too. Your arms aren’t that much more muscular than mine, computer geek.” Phineas gently set the sword back so that the tip rested on the floor, allowing his arms to rest while he looked over the sword some more.

Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford were still giggling as he did so. Ferb smiled and crossed his arms as he watched his brother inspect the sword. Then, he heard a noise across the room. He looked over to see Annie, cringing at the door’s creaking. His eyes widened as he noticed the tears streaming down her face and he rushed over, taking off his gloves and unstrapping his breastplate as he ran. He wrapped his arms around her, though, to his surprise, she pulled away for a second at his touch. But then she gave into her sobs and welcomed his embrace, crying harder.

The others looked around in surprise when they heard the clang of his breastplate against the floor. Annie was already in Ferb’s arms. Phineas and Isabella rushed over, leaving the sword to drop to the floor. Buford and Baljeet followed, though more slowly, unsure what to do.

When Phineas and Isabella arrived, they found that they didn’t know what to do, either. They stood on either side of the teenagers for a moment, wondering how they could help.

After a minute or two, Annie took some deep breaths, trying to regain control. “Sorry… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to…” she whispered through sobs.

“Shh, shh, it’s alright… It’s been a long day…” Ferb comforted.

A few minutes later, she had calmed down some more and she pulled away from Ferb a little. “Oh, I’m sorry, I got your shirt a little wet.”

He smiled gently, now resting his hands on her shoulders. “That’s alright; no one will see it once I put the breastplate back on.” His smile dropped and his brow knit above his worried eyes. He dropped his head a little to face her better. “Are you alright, Annie?”

She wiped tears off her cheeks. “Yeah… yeah. Like you said, long day…”

Ferb frowned, sensing that there was more, but he didn’t press the question. She looked up at him and gave a weak smile. “Thanks, Ferb.”

Though he was still worried, he gave a gentle smile back. “No problem, Annie.”

“... Okay, well, now that that seems to be over, are you gonna eat that, Annie?”

Everyone looked at Buford in surprise. Annie looked down at her hand, which still clutched a piece of gingerbread. She laughed a little. “No, Buford, you can have it.”

“Yes! I’m starving.” She handed him the gingerbread and he happily stuffed it in his mouth. “Ahh, yes… That’s good…”

She giggled and the others rolled their eyes, all smiling as well.

“That’s a beautiful outfit, Annie,” Isabella pointed out after a moment.

Annie’s smile faltered and she looked down at her new clothes while the others looked as well. She wore a sand-colored, long-sleeved shirt, a dark green skirt that hung somewhat stiffly almost to the floor, and a cloak of the same dark green color. A dark blue fabric belt draped around her waist, the blue matching the color of the hem on her skirt and cloak, and the toes of her tan boots peeked out from under her skirt.

“Well, it looks like everyone but me gets to dress up as their video game character,” Phineas jokingly pouted.

“You mean… Annie’s a Mage?” Isabella asked in surprise.

“But I thought that Sage Mortimer said that Mages did not go on quests?” Baljeet added.

“Well, he said they don’t usually go on quests, but I guess… Annie’s one of the exceptions.”

Annie rubbed her arm, her head hanging to avoid anyone’s gaze.

“Well, we needed someone who can actually do magic, right? I mean, all I can do is some attacks or whatever with this stupid Stone.”

Annie looked up at Phineas and he smiled encouragingly. After a moment, she smiled back.

A knock soon interrupted everyone’s thoughts. When the teenagers looked around, Edwin the Light Elf was standing in the doorway. Bowing, the creature announced, “The Sage has requested your presence on the main floor for the banquet in ten minutes time. He would like you to all be dressed for the event.” When he straightened out, he looked up at Phineas. “You may accompany them to the banquet hall, though you are instructed to wait outside until the Sage comes for you.”

They watched as he left and closed the door behind him.

“You have to wait for the Sage?” Isabella asked.

“Yeah; I guess, because of my position, I need to make a special appearance at the banquet.” Phineas sighed, looking down at his Stone for a moment. “Better get a good look at me while we’re there, guys, because after that I need to wear a hood over my face…”

“Are you saying that we won’t even be able to look at you?”

Phineas looked up at her. “Only when we’re somewhere safe,” he replied. “It’s too risky for a Seer to show his face; Snitches, Warlock, and Watchers can sense when one’s near, but they can only pinpoint one if they see his face.” When Isabella looked away disappointedly, Phineas grinned again and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry, Isabella,” he reassured her. “It’s not like I’m going to disappear…”

Ferb noticed that his brother seemed to stop his sentence short, as though he meant to say something more but decided against it. But the green-haired teenager decided not to question it.

“Phineas, if you do not mind me asking, when did you find all of this out?” Baljeet asked. “You know, about you being the Seer and about Cantoria and the Labyrinth existing?”

“Yeah, how long have you been hiding this?” Buford added suspiciously.

Phineas looked at them as they spoke before raising a hand to hold the Stone around his neck.

“Since yesterday,” he replied.

“... Seriously? Just a day ago?”

“Yeah. It… kinda started when I was doing homework. Ferb texted me, saying that my cell wasn’t working. So I called him, and he said I was cutting out, and then the line went dead.” Phineas looked at Isabella. “Then, Izzie and I played some video games, and the lights in the house went out. And then the video game did as well.” He looked at the Stone in his hand. “That’s when the Stone started talking… The Sage was communicating to me through it, and once he mentioned that I had been chosen for this special mission, the Stone just started floating in midair.

“It was really weird; it felt as though a whole heap load of info was being poured into my brain. I was instantly given all the history of Cantoria, all its provinces and peoples, and every single route that would lead to the Labyrinth. It told me the roles each of you guys would receive and how I would be transported here along with everyone… And, well, I guess you guys know the rest. I mean, Ferb didn’t come back too much later.” Phineas let go of the Stone and looked up again, smiling. “But let’s not dwell on the past. We’re here now, and the banquet’s gonna start in a few minutes. I mean, travelling between dimensions makes one hungry, right?”

“Doesn’t it bother you that we’re in a world that isn’t actually supposed to exist?” Buford said with a frown. “I mean, what if we don’t get back home? We’re just kids, for Pete’s sake. I hate school as much as the next person, but I am way too young to move out of my mom’s house. What if we’re stranded here forever?”

Phineas looked at him silently for a moment before looking away. “You won’t be stranded here, Bufe,” he replied. “You’ll… all go home after this is through.” His voice trailed off, leaving everyone in an awkward silence.

Especially Ferb. The more his brother explained, the more concerned he became about their situation. Or, to be more precise, Phineas’ situation. Something was weird about the way Phineas was acting; his cheerfulness was forced, and it was making Ferb uneasy.

And something about the last few words he said was disturbing.

But everyone’s thoughts were interrupted as Buford’s stomach groaned loudly in the silence. Everyone burst into laughter.

“Well, I guess it’s time to head down to the banquet,” Isabella giggled, starting toward the door. “Let’s get it over with; I want to practice my arrow shooting on Buford when we get back.”

Baljeet laughed harder and followed her, closely trailed by the football player. “Hey! I was the one who said you looked good in that outfit!”

Annie and Phineas helped Ferb pick up his discarded gloves and breastplate before they headed down together.

As they walked, Ferb kept an eye on his brother. To his dismay, the redhead’s smile, wide and genuine while he laughed at Buford, was now fading back to a weak and forced grin.


	9. Chapter 8

The banquet was incredible. Light Elves, Faeries, Mages, Sages, and Wizards were all gathered in the giant, gold-coated hall when the teenagers stepped in. Lord Kelinor, Ruler of the Elves of Cantoria, was also present at the banquet. Ferb, Isabella, Baljeet, Buford, and Annie were given seats at the head table. They were introduced one by one, and then Mortimer, Sage of Colornia, stepped into the room, accompanied by Edwin and, of course, Phineas.

Phineas was seated to the right of the Sage while Ferb and the others dined on the man’s left, with Ferb sitting next to him, then Annie, Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford sitting down the line. Lord Kelinor was seated on the other side of Phineas and took this opportunity to ask him quiet questions and whisper words of advice and wisdom in Phineas’ ear, words Ferb guessed to be guidance for the Seer; words Phineas never repeated to anyone—not even Ferb.

Those present took turns asking the teenagers questions about what their dimension was like, to which Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford would give excited, emphatic responses. Eventually, they were so amused by the people’s interest in cars that they began to enjoy the feast and nearly seemed to forget about the situation they were all in.

But Ferb and Annie never spoke. They hardly even touched their food, though Annie listened to the conversation that was taking place on her left.

When Ferb looked over to Phineas, the redhead did not seem to be enjoying the party too much, either. All he did was answer questions calmly when they were asked and smiled as much as he could.

Forced smiles. And the more he noticed them, the more Ferb became uncomfortable.

Had he suddenly become the only one who could not shield his fear of what lay ahead?

But as the banquet continued, he noticed that Annie’s smiles faltered more and more. When the banquet was finished, she sprang up out of her seat and rushed out the door as politely as she could, closely followed by Phineas and Ferb, who had done the same thing. The three other teenagers decided to stay, still enthusiastically answering the many questions the guests offered.

*****

Ferb quickly caught up with Phineas and they walked more slowly down the hall, glad to be free of the attention and the noise of the banquet.

At first, neither spoke, enjoying the silence. But after a few minutes, Ferb cleared his throat. “Phineas… why… why do you keep smiling?”

Phineas looked at him in confusion.

“You know, when we all met in the bedroom. And at the banquet.”

“Why shouldn’t I?”

Ferb rubbed his arm. “Well, it’s just… you know, our situation. We don’t know what’s happening back home, we’re not sure of what the future holds, and we’re embarking on a journey in a world that isn’t, you know, supposed to even exist. And to top it off, you’ve been given the role of Seer. And here you are, smiling…” Ferb shrugged questioningly. “I mean, aren’t you afraid, Phineas?”

Phineas looked forward as they went around a corner. “Of course I am.”

“Then why are you forcing up a smile?”

Phineas looked back at him again. “If I don’t, Ferb, then who will?” he asked quietly.

Ferb remained silent.

“I didn’t mean to push you away, Ferb,” Phineas apologized softly. “You know, since yesterday… I just really didn’t want you to be part of this… Or anyone else, for that matter.”

Ferb looked at him. “Why?”

Phineas shrugged. “I just didn’t want you to have to go through it, that’s all…” He sighed and shook his head. “Stupid; why did I have to go and touch that dumb rock? Seriously, if I could tame my curiosity even a smidge, I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“If it makes you feel better, I’m not all that keen on going on this journey, either. I mean, we’re all only sixteen years old and we’re being sent on this crazy mission—”

“It’s… not the journey that’s scaring me, Ferb,” Phineas interrupted. “Actually, I’m… almost excited. I mean, we’re teens, about to save the world. We get to go on an adventure, live a quest that should only exist in books or movies or video games. We get swords, bows and arrows, and axes as weapons. What sixteen-year-old gets to do that? And on a school night to boot? It’s almost as good as inventing. But…” Phineas bit his lip as his eyes glazed over. He blinked quickly in order to keep tears from overflowing. “But I’m scared of the end.”

Revelation dawned over Ferb. “You mean… what happens in the end of the video game…?”

Phineas nodded, still biting his lip. He took a deep, steadying breath. “It doesn’t matter how the  _ story _ ends. Good or bad, happy or sad, I’m not going back home. Either the Dark Sorcerer will get me and control me and use me as a weapon of mass destruction… or I reach the Center of the Labyrinth and save the world but… sacrifice myself at the same time…” He sniffed and blinked back more tears. “You, Isabella, Baljeet, Buford, and Annie will be able to go home… well, hopefully Annie will. But I won’t. Because I decided to be Curious Phineas Flynn again and just had to pick up that stupid rock.” His voice shook as he continued. “Now, I’m not only playing the role I haven’t wanted since I got the game, but I’m playing it for real, where death is just a stab, slice, or spell away…” His voice broke and he wiped some tears away with his sleeve.

“That’s what’s scaring me,” he whispered shakily. “Having to save the world but die in a dimension who knows how far away from our own… Without saying goodbye to Mom or Dad or Gramma and Grampa Flynn and Fletcher or Perry or…” He covered his mouth as more tears filled his eyes. He sniffed. “... Or Candace,” he added in a squeak. Hugging himself, Phineas added,”It’s not fair. I don’t want to die yet. I’m only sixteen, I haven’t gotten my full driver’s yet, I haven’t graduated from high school, I don’t even have a girlfriend yet… And I won’t even be able to see my big sister get married. And to make matters worse, I won’t ever be able to invent ever again. Why couldn’t I have been teleported here with my sketchbook?” He wiped away some more tears, which were now flowing down his cheeks, and hugged himself again. “I didn’t want you guys to touch the Stone because I didn’t want to come here. I wouldn’t mind the adventure, really. I just… I don’t want to die at the end of it.”

Ferb had allowed him to talk, knowing well that sometimes it was good to vent. But now, he shook his head and grabbed Phineas’ shoulders, causing him to stop and face his brother. “You will not die, Phineas. I promise nothing will happen to you.”

But Phineas only shook his head in return. “You can’t promise that, Ferb,” he whispered. “Not if the ending’s already been written.”

“But the ending is never written in stone, Phineas; that’s why it’s unpredictable. It’s the future. If a glowing stone could teleport us to another dimension, then what tells you that I can’t promise you’ll come home with me once this is through?”

Phineas looked at him in silence for a moment or two. “It’s the fact that I won’t be enough to get the job done properly, Ferb,” he replied.

“What does that mean?”

“I wasn’t meant to do this alone. This role was supposed to be shared. I’m too young; Seers are normally chosen after their coming of age, which for us in the United States is twenty one. Magic or superpowers are just too much for anyone younger to handle. And having the weight of an entire world would crush them. So initially, my role as Seer was supposed to be shared. But… it just couldn’t be in the end. So I have to carry it alone… Which will be way too much power for me when it comes to delivering the world of Cantoria from the Dark Sorcerer. I’ll be overcome by the amount of energy needed for this job, whether before I save everyone or after I save everyone. I won’t be able to handle it. So, either way, your promise can’t be held, Ferb—”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down. What do you mean it couldn’t be in the end? Who was supposed to share this with you?” Ferb asked worriedly. “Wait, does this have to do with what the Sage said about my role as a Knight?”

Phineas nodded meekly, staring up at his brother.

“When he said I was initially supposed to be something else?”

Phineas nodded again.

“You mean… I was supposed to share it? I was supposed to share this role with you?”   
Phineas nodded again.

“Then… what changed? Phineas, if I must share his burden with you, then I’ll go ask the Sage to boost Buford up to a Knight! I’ll do anything just so that you don’t have to do this alone! We’ve always worked as a team; I’m not just going to sit around while you carry this by yourself, not if I can help you. What must I do to change my role?”

Phineas looked at his feet. “It’s too late, Ferb,” he whispered. “You can’t change it.”

“I will if I must! Why did it end up that you needed to take on the Seer role alone, if you’re not going to be strong enough?”

Phineas remained silent for a moment. “... Because, Ferb,” he whispered. He looked back up at his brother. “You don’t believe in Real Magic.”

These words ricocheted off the walls in Ferb’s mind, shattering them in the process.

“Though the Seer doesn’t actually possess magical powers, the Seer Stone does,” Phineas explained. “The Seer Stone gives the Seer the power he needs to save Cantoria. The energy and life force of the Seer is combined with the Stone at the end because the Stone needs a living host to transfer its power and light across the land. That’s the only way Cantoria will be saved…” Phineas’ eyes darkened. “But the Seer has to believe this is possible. He doesn’t have to like it, but he needs to believe that Real Magic actually exists… But you don’t believe that. You said so yourself…” Phineas looked back down at his feet. “That’s why your role was changed, Ferb; because you weren’t fit for the role anymore…”

Ferb was devastated. “You mean, just because I don’t believe in magic, my brother has to carry this burden alone?” he asked in dismay. “Phineas, there’s got to be some other way out of this! I can’t let you take this on alone, not after everything we’ve been through together in the past thirteen years! Can’t you convince the Sage differently? I mean, if you are the Seer, then—”

Looking up at his brother again, Phineas raised a hand and set it down gently on Ferb’s shoulder. Ferb immediately ceased speaking and looked at him in silence.

The redhead forced up another smile. “I don’t want you to worry about it, Ferb,” he said gently. “You and I both know how weird it gets when I become the quiet one and you become the chatterbox. So let’s just drop the subject and stop worrying about the future. Instead, we should worry about the present. We’ve… got a big day ahead of us tomorrow,” he added, trying to change subjects. “We should get back to the room and get some rest…”

He tried to start walking again, but Ferb turned him back, his hands still on his brother’s shoulders. When Phineas looked back up, he saw the distress in his brother’s eyes.

“Phineas, I don’t want to think of anything if I can’t promise you that you’ll come home,” he said firmly. “If I can promise you that one thing, then I won’t worry about anything else.”

“You can’t change a foretold death, Ferb.”

“Stop that! You won’t die, Phineas! I won’t let that happen! I promise you that you’ll come back home again, I do!”

“... Ferb, that’s impossible…”

“Last I checked, Phineas and Ferb could do the impossible. Remember?”

These words caused Phineas to stop and think. All of their past projects and adventures resurfaced in his mind, all the laughs and smiles, all the things people said they were too young to do but were able to achieve anyhow. It had all happened. And right in their own backyard, too.

Phineas pondered a little more before looking up at Ferb again. Although small, he finally sprouted a real smile. “Yes,” he whispered. “Yes, I do.”

“Then, when I promise you that we’ll return home together, do you believe me?”

“... Yes.”

“Let’s pinkie swear on it, then.”

At these words, Phineas threw back his head and laughed. “Pinkie swear?!” he exclaimed. “Ferb, I thought you said that was for toddlers!”

“But we did it when we first met, remember?” Ferb reminded him. “When we were three years old. You told me that we needed to promise that we’d always be brothers, not stepbrothers. You said the step part cramped your style…” He chuckled. “A three-year-old said that…”

“I picked up a lot from my sister.”

“Anyway, you made me promise that, even if our parents would never get married, we’d be brothers forever. So we made a pinkie swear, and sure enough, Mother and Father got married a year later.” Ferb held up his pinkie. “So, in recognition of that day, I, Ferb Fletcher, hereby pinkie swear—” Phineas giggled again “—that I will return to Danville with my brother, Phineas Flynn.” He grinned. “How did that sound?”

Phineas held up his pinkie. “Convincing,” he replied. Wrapping his pinkie around his brother’s, he added, “I, Phineas Flynn, hereby hold you to your word, Sir Ferbalot.”

“That part was corny.”

“I know. But I had to add it.”

“They held their pinkies together for a moment longer before Ferb released his and placed his arms around Phineas. Phineas did the same and held him tightly.

“We’ll make it through this, Phineas,” Ferb whispered. “We always do. And until we’re sitting in our rooms again, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Phineas smiled. “I know you won’t,” he whispered back.

“We can do this, Phineas.”

“Yes… yes, we can.”

*****

For the rest of their walk, both boys were in a much lighter mood. Every once in a while, Phineas would point out something in the hallway and talk about ideas for making the object even better. He pointed at a suit of armour and started explaining how he could turn it into a robotic butler for the Sage so that Edwin didn’t have to work so hard. He talked about how he could make the tables and chairs robotic as well, so that they could move on their own, making rearranging furniture easier and allowing the Sage to stand in one place while tables carrying books and scrolls that he needed could come and go for him to reference. And as they arrived at their room, he was talking about how he could use a tapestry that hung near their bedroom door to make hammocks for the people who had needed a break after walking up all the stairs in the tower (they had had to climb ten flights of stairs to reach their room). But upon opening the door to the room, his explanation stopped short as the boys saw Annie pacing and playing furiously with her hair.

At the sound of the door opening, she stopped and looked up. Her eyes widened as she recognized Phineas and Ferb. She quickly wiped tears off her cheeks. “Oh, hi, Phineas. Hi, Ferb. I was just… you know…” She looked around as if an explanation was written somewhere on the floor she had been treading. When she found none, she rubbed her arm and continued to look at the floor, not meeting the boys’ gaze.

Ferb stepped into the room first, walking over to her and laying a hand gently on her shoulder. “It’s alright to cry, you know… And it’s alright to be worried, and scared… And it’s also alright to talk about it, if you want.”

She looked up at him, eyes brimming with tears. He smiled encouragingly. She looked at Phineas, who had walked up and stood next to Ferb. He smiled as well. Then she looked back at the floor and took a shaky breath. “I… I’m sorry… I just… I know that you guys have a lot on your plate and I didn’t want to… you know, add to it or anything…” She took another breath and looked at Phineas. “I’m sorry, Phineas,” she said, her voice catching in her throat. “I… I tried to help, but… I…” she looked back at her feet as her tears started to flow again. “Oh, I just… I feel so helpless! I couldn’t do anything! You were freaking out and I tried to help but I was too late and now we’re here and now you’re the Seer and you said you never wanted to be the Seer and then the Sage had me stay behind and he kept saying something about the Seer and magic and he kept mumbling and mumbling!” She hugged herself and squeezed her eyes shut and shook the memory away. “I’m the reader! I’m supposed to know what’s going to happen! I mean, there’s usually things to look for and you have an idea of what’s going to happen, and then it does and you were right and you almost scream in frustration because you wish you were there with the characters because you knew what to look for so you could have avoided the whole thing! And now I am here, and I couldn’t do anything!” She buried her face in her hands and started to cry as the boys exchanged shocked glances.

“Umm, how about we go sit down for a moment?” Ferb suggested, gently guiding Annie toward one of the beds. Ferb sat next to her on one bed while Phineas situated himself on the one next to theirs so that he faced the two.

They waited as Annie calmed her crying. After a minute or two, she pulled her face out of her hands and started to wipe the tears away again. She took deep breaths as she steadied herself. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to… to just… burst like that, I guess…”

“Well, did it help?” Ferb asked.

She wiped a few more tears away, then nodded.

“Then there’s no need to apologize. It doesn’t matter what we thought, as long as you felt better afterward. Right?”

She nodded again, giving a weak smile this time. “Yeah, yeah I guess so. Thanks, Ferb. And thanks, Phineas.” She looked over at the redhead. Both boys smiled in return.

“I do have some questions, though,” Ferb said after a moment.

Annie looked up at him. “Okay.”

“Well, I guess, first, what did you mean when you said you tried to help? But that it was too late?”

Before the girl could answer, however, Phineas piped in. “Actually, I was wondering that, too. And I remembered something.” He looked at Annie. “When we were all transported here, there was too much noise and confusion that I didn’t realize what you were saying. But you weren’t shouting at the others to get away from the Stone—you were yelling at  _ me _ .”

Ferb raised his eyebrows and looked at Annie. She nodded meekly.

“And you weren’t trying to pull the Stone away, you were pulling my  _ hand _ away.”

Annie nodded again. “I didn’t actually know what would happen, but I did know that you’d been hiding something all day, and even when you finally revealed it you were so nervous and wouldn’t let anyone touch it, and then you started freaking out when Buford pulled it away and the others started pulling on it. I mean, after all that, when you started shouting to not touch it all at once, I knew that whatever was going to happen wasn’t going to be good. It never really is… you know, in books. But I figured that whatever was going to happen, you’d probably be included, too, so if  _ you _ didn’t touch the Stone, then nothing bad would happen… or, at least, what you were worrying about wouldn’t happen. I guess Buford beating up on someone isn’t very good either…”

They all grinned at this last remark before Annie resumed. “I tried to pull your hand away, but I was too late and we were all transported here… I’m sorry…”

“No apologies needed,” Phineas replied. “You tried, and I thank you for that.”

Annie smiled gratefully. After a moment, she turned toward Ferb. “Did you, um, did you have another question?”

“Hm? Oh! Yes—you said something about the Sage and the Seer and magic and mumbling?”

“Oh… I did… Well, I was… I was talking about when I was alone with the Sage—you know, after you guys all got your roles and he had me stay behind. Well, after you had gone, he sat me over by the fireplace and he set up a table with a few chairs around it and pulled out some books and scrolls. Then he came over and… tapped me on the forehead. And suddenly, all these figures showed up around the room. They kind of looked like holograms, I guess, but they were all just a light shade of blue and were kind of wispy. But they were all of  _ me _ … reenacting memories, mostly, though one simply stood there that had this yellow glow inside it, where my heart and brain would be, I guess—that one was probably about as weird as it sounds—and then there was one that came over and sat with me. It tried to talk to me at one point, but I was so shocked by everything, I couldn’t respond.

“And then, the Sage walked over to the table, tapped his own forehead, and sat down with some copies of himself. He beckoned the copy of me over as well, and they talked sometimes, all together. But mostly, he would walk around and mumble as he looked at all the different figures.

“It was so weird, him looking at all of my memories. I felt… kind of open, vulnerable, kind of violated. But he just kept walking around, mumbling. And then he’d go back to the table and talk with himself. And then he’d walk around again. And it was just back and forth for what felt like forever as all of these pieces of myself wandered around the room.

“And the things I overheard while he mumbled and talked over at the table didn’t help… He kept saying ‘Seer’ and ‘Mage’ over and over, going back and forth. And I overheard him say something about ‘strange magic’. And really, by the time he came back over to me, I was sure I had lost it. But all he said was that I was to be the Mage and that sometimes it’s hard and a bit energy-draining to have oneself displayed like that, so he gave me a piece of gingerbread and sent me on my way with Edwin to get my outfit.”

Annie frowned as she ended her narration.

“You were gone for nearly an hour,” Ferb stated in disbelief. “He was walking around and mumbling and talking to himself that whole time?”

Annie nodded.

“And he gave you nothing at all, really. No explanation, no anything… I would’ve felt I was going insane, too.” Ferb shook his head.

They sat in silence for a while as Phineas and Ferb thought over what she had said.

“Ugh, I feel like I’m going insane just trying to make sense of it.” Phineas flopped backward on the bed. “Strange magic? He’s a Sage and there’s a magic that strange to him?”

“In the morning, we’re going to ask him about this,” Ferb stated, rubbing his head. “He can’t do this and then just give no explanation… Sorry you had to go through that.” He turned to Annie. “Especially alone.”

Annie smiled weakly. “That’s alright, it’s not your fault. And talking did help. Thanks, Ferb. Thanks, Phineas. And I’m sorry about the headaches you two apparently have now.”

Phineas chuckled and sat back up. “I think we just need some rest. Where is everybody? I think it’s been almost an hour since the banquet ended.”

Ferb walked over to the door and opened it, sticking his head out into the hallway. “I hear voices. They must be on their way.”

Sure enough, only a minute later, Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford walked in, still chattering and laughing.

Phineas grinned. “What took you guys so long?”

Isabella giggled. “Would you believe that all those people were still asking questions the whole time?”

“Heck, they’d still be asking questions if the Sage hadn’t put his foot down about our going to bed.” Buford added. “Like we’re gonna sleep after all the sugar we ate.”

Annie yawned. “Well, I’m gonna get some sleep. I’m exhausted.”

And so it went. Annie went to bed and fell fast asleep, and Phineas and Ferb watched as Baljeet and Buford helped Isabella practice shooting arrows, drawing pictures of people they despised from school—Irving being one of them—and hanging the pictures on a target that hung on the wall. She would then shoot at the target, and they all watched to see where on the person she would hit.

“Hey, Bella, think we can blindfold you?” Baljeet asked at one point.

“Want me to shoot you by accident?”

“No.”

“Then, no, you can’t. Just enjoy whatever shot I dish out.” Isabella held her bow up, pulled the arrow back, and released it. The arrow whizzed through the air until it had slammed into the picture, right in the figure’s left eye.

“OOOOHHHH!!!” Buford laughed. “That’s sweet! Mr. Magnesium’s gone blind in one eye, ha! I’d die if this was all voodoo!”

And so, for the next hour or so, the room echoed with laughter, until one by one the teenagers started yawning and tucking themselves into bed. Soon, the echoes had died away and the light of the stars coming through the window settled lightly on six sleeping forms, in their dreams forgetting for a while the journey that awaited them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the end of the first "book" I know it's short. Originally it was 15 chapters, but I realized as I was editing that some of them were quite short, so I gathered a few together here and there. I'd make book one and two into just one book, but I want to stick a little bit to Ashley's original organization. Just wait till we get to book three, haha. That one's a doozy, and I haven't even (re)written it yet.  
> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is based off of KicsterAsh's "The Seer" on DeviantART. Check out the story before Annie jumps in, and check out her awesome artwork of the story as well!


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